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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

Chap3E~. Copyright 
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 















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HIGHWAY LAWS 


OF THE 

STATE OF IOWA; 


CONTAINING 


ALL THE LAWS OF IOWA 


RELATING TO THE 


Powers and Duties of Highway Supervisors, 


WITH ALL 



AMENDMENTS, INCLUDING THE LAWS OF 1896, WITH 
PRACTICAL FORMS AND PROCEEDINGS. 


SEP 8 1896 


BURLINGTON, IOWA: 

ACRES, BLACKMAR & CO., PUBLISHERS. 

1896 . 

& 


ro-i-jr 'ffe'y 





Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year A. D. 1896, 

By ACRES, BLACKMAR & CO., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 










PUBLISHERS’ NOTICE. 


Our last edition of the Highway Laws of Iowa having 
been exhausted, we have carefully revised them, adding 
the amendments and new laws of 1896, and such late 
decisions of the Supreme Court as seem applicable, and 
herewith present a new edition. 

The work contains all the laws on the subject of high¬ 
ways now in force, including those embraced in the Code 
of 1878 and the twelve volumes of Session Laws published 
since 1878, together with the decisions of the Supreme 
Court applying to the subjects treated, with practical 
forms and proceedings. 

ACRES, BLACKMAR & CO. 

August, 1896. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


i. 

ii. 

in. 

IV. 

V. 
VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 


XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 
XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXL 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 


XXV. 

XXVI. 


XXVII. 


XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 


H 1 G H WAYS. 


Establishment of Highways.. 

Duties of Commissioner to establish Highways... 

Assessment of Damages on Highways.,... 

Final action in establishment, vacation or alteration of highways.. 

Highways through State Lands.. . 

Highways across or along County lines.... . 

Highways along streams to avoid building bridges... 

Drains and Ditches along highways... 

Highways Established by consent. 

Establishment of Public Roads to Mines and Stone Quarries. 

Manner of Condemnation-Notice..... 

Railroads crossing Highways... 

Appeals from Board of Supervisors on allowing or rejecting claims 

for damages... 

Lost Field Notes. .... 

Establishment of Highways by Dedication or Prescription.,.,. 

Cattle-ways across Highways. 

Sidewalks on Highways. 

Street Railway Companies. 

Duties of Township Trustees in reference to Highways. 

Taxation for road purposes in Municipalities. 

Duties of Township Clerk in reference to Highways... 

Highway Supervisors, election, qualification and duties... 

Militia... 

Labor on Highways by the poor. 

Improvement of Highways.. 

Removing Obstructions.. 

Guide Boards. 

Extermination of Canada and Russian Thistles. 

Supervisor’s Settlement with Trustees. 

Penalty for Neglecting Duties .. 

Planting and Trimming Hedge Fences. 

Construction of Highways leading into Cities and Towns. 

Meeting on Highways... 


5 

6 
8 

12 

14 

15 
15 
15 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 
22 


24 

24 

25 

26 
26 
29 
34 
34 

OC 

Oo 

43 

43 

44 
44a 
44b 
44b 

47 

48 


BRIDGES AND FERRIES. 

Bridges. 49 

Use of Surplus Funds. 52 

Toll Bridges... 53 

Toll Bridges over Streams dividing Counties.52-4 

Ferries. 54 

Obstructing, defacing or injuring Public Highways, Punished. 56 

Running Steam Engine on Highway. 56 

Procuring broken stone for Macadamizing. 56a 










































HIGHWAYS 


1. ESTABLISHMENT OF HIGHWAYS. 

Sub-division 5, of section 45, of the code, is as follows: 

5. The words “highway 1 ' and “road” include public bridges, and may be 
held equivalent to the words “county way,” “county road,” “common road,” 
and “state road.” 

Section 920. The board of supervisors has the general supervision over the 
highways in the county, with power to establish and change them as herein pro¬ 
vided, and to see that the laws in relation to them are carried into effect. 

Bridges are part of the public highway, and are therefore under 
the general supervision of the board of supervisors; and courts will 
not compel them by mandamus to build a bridge (43 Iowa, 192). 

The board of supervisors has no authority to establish highways in 
the limits of incorporated towns or cities (72 Iowa, 173). 

Sec. 921. Highways hereafter established must be sixty-six feet in width, 
unless otherwise directed; but the board of supervisors may, for good reasons, fix 
a different width, not less than forty feet, and they may be increased or dimin¬ 
ished within the limits aforesaid, altered in direction, or discontinued, by pursuing 
substantially the steps herein prescribed for opening a new highway. 

The auditor has no power to establish a highway less than sixty-six 
feet wide, and if he attempts to do so, the board of supervisors may 
set aside hie. action (45 Iowa, 482). 

But if the Records of the board show an approval of the act of the 
auditor establishing a road less than sixty-six feet wide, such highway 
is proper and legal (61 Iowa, 572). 

The establishment of a highway wider than authorized does not 
render the order establishing it void. It is an irregularity which can¬ 
not be taken advantage of in a collateral proceeding (20 Iowa, 248). 

An attempt to build a bridge by the side of a highway to save money 
may be enjoined if it works any injury to an adjoining property owner 
(61 Iowa, 471). 

Section 922. Any person desiring the establishment, vacation, or alteration 
of a highway, shall file in the auditor’s office of the proper county a petition, in 
substance as follows: 

No. 1— PETITION TO ESTABLISH, ALTER OR VACATE A HIGHWAY. 

To the Honorable Board of Supervisors of . County: 

The undersigned ask that a highway, commencing at [here accurately describe 




6 


the place of beginning,] and running thence [here describe the course] and termi¬ 
nating at [here accurately describe the terminus,] be established, vacated or 
altered (as the case may be). 

Dated . 18 . 

Petitioners’ Names. | Petitioners’ Names. 

The petition should not state the width (45 Iowa, 482), and a peti¬ 
tion asking for the appointment of a commissioner instead of for the 
establishment of a road, is not a material defect (38 Iowa, 252). 
Section 1, chapter 32, session laws of 1880, giving right to build 
street railways on the highway, must be construed as authorizing 
highways wider than sixty-six feet (55 Iowa, 505). 

The petition may not follow the precise language of the statute 
(24 Iowa, 362). But a highway cannot be established lawfully un¬ 
less the board has been petitioned, and a petition asking for the open¬ 
ing and re-establishment of a road will not authorize proceedings to 
establish one (72 Iowa. 151 ). 

The petition to establish or vacate a highway must follow the stat¬ 
utory form (90 Iowa, 346); and the establishment and vacation of a 
highway may be asked in the same petition (88 Iowa, 219). 

Section 923.. Before filing such petition, the auditor shall require the peti¬ 
tioner to file in his office a bond, with sureties to be approved by such auditor, 
conditioned that all expenses growing out of the application will be paid by the 
obligors in case the contemplated highway is not finally established, altered or 
vacated, as asked in the petition. 

A failure to file the bond referred to will not invalidate the pro¬ 
ceedings (32 Iowa, 130). 

If the auditor proceeds without a bond, his action is not, because 
of that fact, without jurisdiction, the directions in respect thereof 
being simply directory (61 Iowa, 572). 

Section 924. If satisfied that the foregoing prerequisites have been complied 
with, the auditor shall appoint some suitable and disinterested elector of the 
county a commissioner to examine into the expediency of the proposed highway 
alteration or vacation thereof, and report accordingly. 


II. DUTY OF COMMISSIONER TO ESTABLISH 
HIGHWAYS. 

Section 925. The commissioner is not confined to the precise matter of the 
petition, but may inquire and determine whether that or any highway in the 
vicinity, answering the same purpose and in substance the same, be required- but 
such highway must not be established through any burying ground which is ex- 
empt from execution; nor through any garden, orchard, or ornamental ground 
contiguous to any dwelling house, nor so as to cause the removal of any building 
without the consent of the owner. ^ 

A small plum tree, a cottonwood tree, a small grapevine, a wild 
currant bush and a few roses do not constitute a garden or orna- 
mental grounds (64 N. W. Rep. 622). 




7 


The commissioner has no authority to lay out a road beyond the 
point fixed in the petition (18 Iowa, 525). 

Section 926. In forming his judgment he must take into consideration both 
the public and private convenience, and also the expense of the proposed highway. 

The establishment of a highway is for the public convenience; 
private convenience alone is not sufficient (47 N. W. R., 1044). 

A highway cannot be established for the convenience of one per¬ 
son (82 Iowa, 358). 

Section 927. After a general examination, if he shall not be in favor of 
establishing the proposed highway, he will so report, and no further proceedings 
shall be had thereon. 

An adverse report ends all proceedings under the petition. A report 
by another commissioner appointed by the auditor has no validity 
(52 Iowa, 709). 

After a commissioner has made his report, a second commissioner 
cannot be appointed to view and make a report (86 Iowa, 385). 

If the commissioner report adversely, the application cannot be 
considered as longer pending (59 Iowa, 481), and his report must 
show a determination, or it will not be sufficient to show the estab¬ 
lishment of a highway (52 Iowa, 660). 

Section 928. If he deems such establishment expedient, he may proceed at 
once to lay out the highway as hereinafter directed, and may report accordingly, 
if the circumstances of the case are such as to enable him to do so, without pursu¬ 
ing the course pointed out in the next section. 

Sec. 929. If the precise location of the highway cannot be otherwise given, 
he must cause the line of the highway to be accurately surveyed and plainly 
marked out. 

Sec. 930 Any commissioner other than the county surveyor must be sworn to 
faithfully and'impartially discharge his duty as such commissioner, and, after 
being thus qualified, he shall have power to swear the assistants employed to a 
faithful and impartial performance of their respective duties in laying out the 
highway described in his commission. 

The commissioner should be sworn, but an affidavit before one not 
authorized to administer oaths will not render his work invalid (32 
Iowa, 130). 

Section 931. Mile posts must be set up at the end of every mile, and the dis 
tance marked thereon, and stakes must be set at each change of direct.on, on 
which shall be marked the bearing of the new course. Stakes must also be set at 
the crossing of fences and streams, and at intervals in the prairie not exceeding a 
quarter of a mile each; in the timber the course must be indicated by trees suita¬ 
bly blazed. 

The provision of this section are directory only, and a failure to 
follow it minutely will not render the proceedings void or illegal (24 
Iowa, 362). 


Section 932. Bearing trees must, when convenient, be established at each 
angle and mile post, and the position of the highways relative to the corners of 
sections, the junction of streams, or any other national or artificial monument or 
conspicuous object, must, as far as convenient, be stated in the field notes and 
shown on the plat. 

Sec. 933. A correct plat of the highway, together with a copy of the field 
notes of the survey, if one has been employed, must be filed as part of the com¬ 
missioner’s report. 

Sec. 934. Within thirty days from the day of his appointment, the commis¬ 
sioner must file his report in the auditor’s office, and if it be in favor of the estab¬ 
lishment of the highway, shall report the number of bridges required, if any, and 
the probable cost thereof on the proposed highway. The auditor must appoint a 
day, not less than sixty nor more than ninety days distant, when the matter will 
be acted upon; on or before which day all objections to the establishment of the 
highway and claims for damages by reason of the establishment thereof must be 
filed with the auditor. 

Final action on a date subsequent to the one fixed will be presumed 
to be in pursuance of a proper resolution (32 Iowa, 130). All claims 
for damage must be filed as provided (7 Iowa, 248; see note to sec¬ 
tion 946). 

A date fixed for final hearing less than sixty days is an irregularity, 
but will not render its action open to collateral attack (39 Iowa, 226 ). 

Section 935. The time for the commissioner to commence the examination 
shall be fixed by the auditor, and if he fails to so commence, or to report as pre¬ 
scribed in the preceding section, the auditor may fix another day, or extend the 
time for making such report, or may appoint another commissioner. 

Changes in the location of a highway from that described in the 
petition, made during and in the course of proceedings to lay it out, 
will be presumed correct in a collateral proceeding (15 Iowa, 213); 
but where the commissioner extended the highway beyond the ter¬ 
minus named in the petition, it was void (18 Iowa, r25). The fixing 
visible monuments, and the making of field notes and a plat of the 
road, as provided in sections 931 and 932 of this chapter, are merely 
directory, and a failure on the part of the commissioner to comply 
therewith will not render the proceedings void (24 Iowa, 367). 

III. ASSESSMENT OF DAMAGES ON HIGHWAYS. 

Section 936. Within twenty days after the day is fixed by the auditor, as 
above provided, a notice shall be served on each owner or occupier of land lyin^ 
in the proposed highway, or abutting thereon, as shown by the transfer books in 
the auditor’s office, who resides in the county, in the manner provided for the 
service of original notice in actions at law; and such notice shall be published for 
four weeks in some newspaper printed in the county, if any such there be which 
notice may be in the following form: 


9 


No. 2.—NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNERS. 

To all whom it may concern: The commissioner appointed to locate, vacate, 

or alter (as the case may be) a highway commencing at.in.county, 

running thence [here insert the names of the owners of the land through, on or 
along which the proposed highway passes, as they appear upon the transfer books 
in the auditor’s office, and describe in general terms all the points, as in the com¬ 
missioner’s report], and terminating at., has reported in favor of the estab¬ 

lishment, vacation, or alteration thereof, and all objections thereto, or claims for 

damages, must be filed in the auditor’s office on or before noon of the.day of 

.18.. or such highway will be established, vacated, or altered (as the 

case may be) with reference thereto. . County Auditor. 

The petition and notice required by the above section are necessary 
to confer jurisdiction upon the supervisors, and the record of their 
proceedings must show them (64 Iowa, 243; 39 Iowa, 274). Notice 
to conditional owners and others, not shown by the transfer books, 
not necessary (42 Iowa, 173). The notice should be served person¬ 
ally upon the owner, as shown by the transfer books, if the owner is 
a resident of the county, and if a non-resident, then upon the occu¬ 
pant, though his name is not upon the transfer hooks (49 Iowa, 569). 

In order to make the proceedings valid, the notice must contain 
the names of non-resident persons who own lands abutting, accord¬ 
ing to Auditor’s transfer books (91 Iowa, 275). A mistake in the 
notice and petition as to the place of beginning renders the proceed¬ 
ings invalid (45 Iowa, 257). A railroad running over land is such 
occupier as must be served with notice (80 Iowa, 586). A failure to 
serve vitiates the proceeding (60 N. W. Rep. 226). 

Personal notice need be given only to residents of the state in 
actual occupancy of land. Notice upon foreign railway corporations 
through whose land the proposed road passes is sufficiently served by 
publication (68 Iowa, 135). Not so on corporations of this state 
(43 N. W. Rep., 277). If the auditor determine the sufficiency of 
the notice, it casts upon one questioning the fact the burden of dis¬ 
proving it (64 Iowa, 198). The notice required by the foregoing sec¬ 
tion does not apply to city streets or alleys (66 Iowa, 687). 

The notice may be served by the sheriff, constable, or any other 
person not an interested party, and the service must be made by 
reading the notice to each person named therein, or offering to read 
it if he neglects or refuses to hear it read, and in either case by 
delivering him personally a copy of the notice; or, if he refuses to 
receive it, by offering to deliver it (code of 1873, sections 2601-2-3). 

If service cannot be made on the parties personally, on account of 
their not being found in the county, then it must he made by leaving 
a copy of the notice at his usual place of residence with some member 
of the family bver fourteen years of age. 

Service may also be made by taking an acknowledgement of the 
service endorsed on the notice, dated and signed by the persons on 
whom service is to be made (Code of 1873. section 26031. 









10 


The notice must be returned to the auditor on or before the day 
set for hearing, with the proper return made thereon, which return 
must be sworn to, unless served by an officer; which return may be 
made in the following form: 

No. 3.—RETURN TO NOTICE WHEN SERVED PERSONALLY. 

I hereby certify that I served the within notice on the within named [here name 
each person served] by reading the same to each personally [or offering to read it), 
[here state the place and manner] and delivering (or offering to deliver) to each 
of them a true copy thereof, on the.day of.18., in.county, Iowa. 

Service, $.; copies, $.; mileage, $. 

... Sheriff or Constable. 

When served by copy the return may be as follows: 

No. 4.—RETURN TO NOTICE SERVED BY COPY. 

I hereby certify that I served the within notice on the within named [here 

name the person served by copy] on the.day of.18.. by leaving a copy 

thereof at the dwelling house of [here state whose house], in.township. 

county, Iowa, that being the usual place of residence of [here name the person or 
persons served], with [here give the name of the person with whom the copy is 
left], (be or she) being a member of the family over fourteen years of age. The 
said [here name the person or persons] not being found in.county, Iowa. 

Fees, $. . Sheriff or Constable. 

When practicable, the persons named in the notice may acknowl¬ 
edge service in writing thereon, as follows: 

No. 5.—ACCEPTANCE OF SERVICE OF NOTICE. 

I (or we) do hereby acknowledge due and legal service of the within notice, 
this.day of...18. . . 

When service is acknowledged according to form No. 5, neithei 
copies to the parties, nor formal return by the officer or person serv¬ 
ing the same is required. 

The reading of the notice, and also the delivering of the copy, maj> 
be waived by the parties served, and the fact noted in the return. 

When the notice is served by any person not an officer, or when 
served out of the state, the affidavit of the person serving the same 
may be as follows: 

No. 6.—AFFIDAVIT TO RETURN OF NOTICE TO PROPERTY 
OWNERS. 

State op Iowa, .County, ss. 

.•..;•••» on oa th- say that I served the within notice [here proceed as in 

thetoregomg forms, as the case requiresl. p d,s 1D 

Subscribed and sworn to before me by.this.day of .’.’i8 

•. Justice of the Peace. 


i 




























11 


The return must be in strict compliance with the statute (1 Green, 
346; 10 Iowa, 553; 12 Iowa, 204), and must show the time, manner 
and place of service, and that a copy was delivered, or offered to be 
delivered to the person served (code of 1873, section 2604; 27 Iowa, 
465). 

The notice should be published in the paper most likely to give 
notice to all parties interested; provided more than one such paper is 
published in the county. 

A foreign railroad corporation, over whose track a highway is being 
established, may be notified by publication of the proposed establish¬ 
ment of the highway (68 Iowa, 135). 

Proof of the publication must be made by the affidavit of the pub¬ 
lisher or other competent person knowing the fact. 

But formal proof of notice by publication, need not be made to 
authorize the auditor to act (64 Iowa, 198). 

Section 937. If no objections or claims for damages are filed on or before 
noon of the day fixed for filing the same, and the auditor is satisfied the provisions 
of the preceding section have been complied with, he shall proceed to establish 
such highway as recommended by the commissioner, upon the payment of costs. 
If such costs are not paid within ten days, the auditor shall report his action in 
the premises to the board of supervisors at their next session, who may affirm the 
action of the auditor, or establish such highway at the expense of the county. 

The auditor has no power to fix the width of a highway at less 
than sixty-six feet (45 Iowa, 482), and the action of the auditor is 
subject to review by the board (38 Iowa, 263); and an appeal cannot 
be taken from the action of the auditor, but only from that of the 
board (39 Iowa, 244). 

Section 938. If the auditor is satisfied the notice has not been served and 
published as provided in section nine hundred and thirty-six of this chapter, he 
shall appoint another day, and cause such notice to be served or published, as pro¬ 
vided in said section, and thereafter proceed as provided in the preceding section. 

Sec. 939. If objections to the establishment of the highway or claims for 
damages are filed, the further hearing of the application shall stand continued to 
the next session of the board of supervisors held after the commissioners appointed 
to assess damages have reported. 

The auditor cannot establish the highway, though the damages 
claimed have been paid, but the hearing must be continued to the 
next meeting of the board (52 Iowa, 568). 

Section 940. When claims for damages are filed, and on the day appointed 
for filing the same, the auditor must appoint three suitable and disinterested 
electors of the county as appraisers to view the ground, on a day fixed by him, and 


12 


report upon the amount of damages sustained by the claimants; such report shall 
be made and filed in the auditor’s office within thirty days after the day they are 
appointed. 

Timber growing upon land appropriated for highway purposes 
remains the property of the former owner, and is not to be taken 
into account in determining his damages (9 Iowa, 594). If the 
appraisers are appointed by the auditor before the day appointed for 
filing claims, without notice to the claimants, the proceedings are 
illegal. Claimants have a right to be present when such appoint¬ 
ments are made, and to be heard in relation thereto (55 N. W. Rep., 6). 

Section 941. All claims for damages and objections to the establishment, vaca¬ 
tion, or alteration of the highway must be in writing, and the statements in the ap¬ 
plication for damages shall be considered denied in all the subsequent proceedings. 

Under this and section 946, damages for vacation of highway can¬ 
not be recovered by an adjacent owner of land, nor by any other 
person (40 Iowa, 571; ibid, 576). 

Section 942. The auditor shall cause notice of their appointment to be given 
to each of the appraisers, fixing the hour at which they are to meet at the office of 
the auditor, or some justice of the peace therein named. 

Sec. 943. If the appraisers are not all present within one hour of the time 
thus fixed, the auditor or justice, as the case may be, shall fill the vacancy by the 
appointment of others. The appraisers must be sworn to discharge their duty 
faithfully and impartially. 

If, however, upon the absence of one of the appraisers the others 
adjourn to a day when all will be present, their action is not neces¬ 
sarily invalid for that reason (61 Iowa, 89). 

Section 944. Should the report not be filed in time, or should any other good 
cause for delay exist, the auditor may postpone the time for final action on the 
subject, and may, if expedient, appoint other commissioners. 

Sec. 945. Should no damages be awarded the applicant therefor, the whole of 
the cost growing out of his application shall be paid by him. 

IV. FINAL ACTION IN THE ESTABLISHMENT, VACATION 
OR ALTERATION OF HIGHWAYS. 

Section 946. When the time for final action arrives, the board of supervisors 
may hear testimony, receive petitions for and remonstrances against the establish¬ 
ment, vacation or alteration, as the case may be, of such highway, and may estab¬ 
lish, vacate, or alter, or refuse to do so, as in their judgment, founded on the tes¬ 
timony, the public good may require. Said board may increase or diminish the 
damages allowed by the appraisers, and may make such establishment, vacation 
or alteration, conditioned upon the payment in whole or in part of the damages 
awarded, or expenses in relation thereto. 

When two applications are made for substantially the same road, 
by different routes, they may be considered together (26 Iowa, 85). 

Where the establishment is conditioned upon the payment of the 
expenses, the order need not specify the time for such payment (ibid). 


13 


If an appeal is taken from the action of the board allowing dam¬ 
ages, and the district court increase the amount allowed, the board 
may reconsider their action, and deny the application for the highway 
(47 Iowa, 32). This section does not contemplate damages for the 
vacation of a highway (61 N. W. Rep. 175) 

Where the auditor improperly locates a highway, the board may 
set aside his action and vacate the highway thus wrongly established 
(45 Iowa, 482). 

And if the application be dismissed, the board is not precluded for 
all time from the establishment of a road on the same line (64 
Iowa, 198). 

When the board has once concluded upon the order contemplated 
in this action, and the amount of damages, such action is in the 
nature of an adjudication of the matter in controversy, and the same 
matter cannot be brought in question in a new proceeding, before the 
board; it must be appealed (35 Iowa, 578). And a failure of a party 
to claim his damages within a prescribed time, will not admit his 
objection to the establishment of the road on the ground that his 
property is taken without compensation (7 Iowa, 248; ibid , 418; 28 
Iowa, 469; 36 Iowa, 354). 

The damages to the land owner do not include the timber, as that 
remains his property (9 Iowa, 594). If he is dissatisfied with this 
appraisement, he may have his damages assessed by a jury of twelve 
by appeal (65 Iowa, 566). 

When an order vacating a highway is made it should be absolute, 
not conditional, or the public right will continue (52 N. W. R., 116). 

The action of the board in respect to damages can be reviewed only 
on appeal, as provided in section 959. 

Section 947. In the latter case, a day shall be fixed for the performance of 
the condition, which must be before the next session of the board, and if the same 
is not performed by the day thus fixed, the board shall, at such session, make some 
final and unconditional order in the premises. 

Sec. 948. Any order made or action taken in the establishment of a highway, 
shall be entered in the highway record, distinguishing between those made or 
taken by the auditor, and those by the board of supervisors. 

Sec. 949. After the highway has been finally established, the plat and field 
notes must be recorded by the auditor, and he shall certify the same to the town¬ 
ship clerk, and the township clerk shall certify to and direct the supervisor of 
highways to have the same opened and worked subject to the provisions of the 
next section. 


14 


Sec. 950. A reasonable time must be allowed to enable the owners of land to 
erect the necessary fences adjoining the new highway; and when crops have been 
planted or sowed before the highway is finally established, the opening thereof 
shall be delayed until the crop is harvested. 

Refusal of the owner of the land to remove the fences where the 
newly established highway crosses his land, does not subject him to a 
criminal prosecution for obstruction of highway until a reasonable 
time after he shall have been notified by the supervisor (32 Iowa, 
189). 

When the road supervisor, at the request of the land owner, slightly 
deflected from the original line, the public may acquire rights in the 
road thus laid out, and a supervisor may remove the fence therefrom 
(62 Iowa, 37). 

Section 951. The rights and interests of minor and insane persons, in rela¬ 
tion to the establishment, vacation, and alteration of highways, and all matters 
connected therewith, are under the control of their guardians. 

Sec. 952. All public streets of towns or villages not incorporated, are a part 
of the highway; and all supervisors of highways or persons having charge of the 
same, in the respective districts of such towns or villages, shall work the same as 
provided by law. 

Sec. 953. Such portions of all highways as lie within the limits of any city 
or incorporated town shall conform to the direction and grade, and be subject to 
all regulations of other streets in such town or city. 

The streets and alleys within the limits of an incorporated town 
or city are under the control of the municipal government, but the 
streets of an unincorporated town are a part of the highways of the 
county, and are under the control of the supervisors (72 Iowa, 173). 


Highways Through State hands for Use of State Institutions. 

• ,i 

The trustees or the commissioners of any of the institutions belonging to this 
state may vacate, alter, change, or establish public highways through the lands 
belonging to the state and for the use of such institutions as to the said board of 
trustees or commissioners may seem for the best interests of the state and the 
public, subject however to the approval of the board of supervisors of the county 
or the city council of the city wherein such lands are situated. 

. Whenever said board of trustees, or commissioners and board of supervisors or 
city council shall make any change in said public highways by altering, vacating 
or establishing new highways, the same, together with a plat thereof, shall be 
reported to the county auditor of the county in which the land is located, and 
s all be by the auditor entered on his plat-book of highways in the same manner 
as other highways are platted. 

Section 954 of the Code of Iowa, 1873, is hereby repealed. {Chap. 45, Laws 
of 1896.) * 


15 


Y. HIGHWAYS ACROSS OR ALONG COUNTY LINES. 

Section 955. The establishment, vacation or alteration of a highway, either 
along or across a county line, may be effected by the concurrent action of the re¬ 
spective boards of supervisors in the mode above described; except that the auditor 
of neither county can make the final order in such case. The commissioners in 
such chses must act in concert, and the highway will not be deemed established, 
vacated or altered in either county until it is so in both. 

Sec. 956. Hereafter there shall be no distinction between highways heretofore 
known-as state roads and county roads; both alike are subject to the provisions of 
this chapter. Highways established by the concurrent action of the board of 
supervisors of two or more counties, can only be discontinued by the concurrent 
action of the board of supervisors of the several counties in which the same may 
be situated, but such highways shall be treated in all other respects as provided 
in this title. 

YI. HIGHWAYS ALONG STREAMS TO AVOID BUILDING 

BRIDGES. 

The board of supervisors shall have the power to change and establish high¬ 
ways along streams where they can avoid building a bridge or bridges over said 
stream, and said highway shall be placed in good traveling condition by said 
county board of supervisors; and all cost accruing in the establishment of said 
road shall be paid out of the county bridge fund. 

The board of supervisors shall have power wherever such highway is 
necessary to be established, at their regular session, to appoint three disinterested 
persons to assess the damages of the same. 

In all cases the party or parties aggrieved by said assessment may appeal to the 
circuit [district] court, but the party or parties appealing must give sufficient 
bond for costs, to be approved by the clerk of said court. {Chap. 85, Laws of 1886.) 

VII. DRAINS AND DITCHES ALONG HIGHWAYS. 

Ditches or drains may be located and constructed within the limits of any pub¬ 
lic highway and on either or both sides thereof, and levees or embankments upon 
and along the same; provided, they are so constructed as not to prevent public 
travel thereon. The engineer or commissioner appointed to locate ditches, drains, 
levees or embankments, may recommend the establishment of a public highway 
upon and along the route of the same, and the board of supervisors may establish 
the same on such recommendation in the same manner as on the report of the 
highway commissioner. * * * {Chap. 186, Laws of 1884.) 

VIII. HIGHWAYS ESTABLISHED BY CONSENT. 

Section 957. Highways may be established without the appointment of 
commissioner, provided the written consent of all the owners of land to be used 
for that purpose be filed in the auditor’s office, and if it is shown to the satis¬ 
faction of the board of supervisors that the proposed highway is of sufficient public 
importance to be opened and worked by the public, they shall make an order 
establishing the same, from which time only shall it be regarded as a highway. 

Sec. 958. If a survey for the establishment of the highway named in the 
preceding section is necessary, the board of supervisors, before ordering such 
survey, may require the parties asking for the establishment of such highway to 
pay, or secure the payment of, the expenses of such survey. 


16 


IX. ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC ROADS TO MINES AND 
STONE QUARRIES. 

By Chapter 18, laws of 1894, section 1 of chapter 34, laws of 1874 
is repealed and the following enacted as a substitute therefor: 

Section 1. Any person, corporation, joint stock association or co-partnership, 
owning or leasing any land not having a public or private way for ingress and 
egress thereto, may have established over the land of another a public way to any 
railway station, street or highway, not exceeding forty feet in width, by pursuing 
the methods provided for in the chapter to which this is an amendment; provided 
that such way shall be located on the division line or immediately adjacent thereto 
and in no way interfering with buildings, orchards, gardens or cemeteries, and 
when said road shall be constructed it shall, when passing through enclosed lands, be 
fenced on both sides by the person or corporation causing said road to be established. 

Sec. 2. If the owner of any real estate, necessary to be taken for the purpose 
mentioned in this act, refuse to grant the right of way, or if such owner and the 
person, partnership, joint-stock association, or corporation seeking to have such 
way established, cannot agree upon the compensation to be paid for the same, the 
sheriff of the county in which said real estate may be situated shall, upon the 
application of either party, appoint six disinterested freeholders of the county, 
not interested in a like question, who shall inspect said real estate, and assess the 
damage which said owner will sustain by the appropriation of said land for such 
public way, and make and report in writing to the sheriff of said county, and if 
the applicant for such public way shall at any time before entering upon said real 
estate, for the purpose of constructing such way, pay to the sheriff, for the use of 
said owner, the sum so assessed and returned to him, as aforesaid, said highway 
may be at once constructed and maintained over and across said premises. 

Sec. 3. In proceeding under this act, the application to the sheriff, the duty 
of the commissioners, the time and manner of assessing the damages, the giving 
of notice thereof to residents and non-residents, the power of guardians to settle 
and convey, the making and returning of appraisement, the selection of talesmen, 
the payment of the costs of assessment, the report of the commissioners, the record¬ 
ing thereof, the right of appeal, the proceedings relating thereto, the result of 
non-user, the rights and duties as to other highways, are and shall be the same as 
provided in the section of the Code numbered twelve hundred and forty-five to 
and including twelve hundred and sixty-eight, and the provisions of all of said 
sections, so far as applicable, are declared to be a part of this act, except that the 
report of the commissioners, and record thereof, shall confer no title to the appli¬ 
cant for the land taken for the highway, but shall be presumptive evidence of the 
establishment of such way. 

Sec. 4. Any owner, lessee, or possessor of lands having coal, stone, lead or 
other mineral thereon, who paid the damages assessed for highways established 
under this act, may construct, use, and maintain a railway on such way, for the 
purpose of reaching and operating any quarry or mine on such land, and of trans¬ 
porting the products thereof to market. In the giving of the notices required by 
this act, the applicant shall state whether a railway is to be constructed and 
maintained on the way sought to be established; and if it be so stated the jury 
shall consider that fact in the assessment of damages. 


17 


X. MANNER OF CONDEMNATION—NOTICE. 

Section 1245. The- application to the sheriff shall be in writing, and the 
freeholders appointed shall be commissioners to assess all damages to the owners 
of real estate in said county, and said corporation, or the owner of any land therein, 
may, at any time after their appointment, have the damages assessed in the man¬ 
ner herein prescribed by giving the other party five day’s notice thereof in writing, 
specifying therein the day, and hour when such commissioners will view the 
premises, which shall be served in the same manner as original notices. 

A mortgagee whose mortgage is of record is a necessary party to such 
proceedings or he will not be bound thereby (38 Iowa, 463; 50 Iowa, 
663). The jury can only assess the damage for lands taken by a 
railroad, not for injury to property abutting on a street (33 N. W. 
R., 149). 

Section 1246. If the owner of any land is a minor, insane or other person 
under guardianship, the guardian of such minor, insane or other person, may, 
under the direction of the circuit (district) judge, agree and settle with said cor¬ 
poration for all damages, by reason of the taking of such lands for any of the pur¬ 
poses aforesaid, and may give valid conveyances of such land. 

Section 1247. If the owner of such lands is a non-resident of the county in 
which the same are situate, no demand of the right of way or other purpose for 
which such lands are desired shall he necessary, except the publication of a notice 
which may be in the following form: 

No. 7.—NOTICE FOR THE APPLICATION OF LANDS FOR RAILWAY 

PURPOSES. 

To [here insert the name of each person whose lands are to be taken or affected] 
and to all persons having any interest in or owning any of the following real 
estate [here describe the land by congressional numbers in tracts not exceeding 
one-sixteenth of a section, or if the land consists of lots in a town or city, by the 
numbers of the lot and block]. 

You are hereby notified that the...has located its railway over the above 

described real estate and desires the right of way over the same, to consist of a 

strip or belt of land.feet in width, through the center of which the center 

line of said railway will run, together with such other land as may be necessary for 
bermes, waste banks, and borrowing pits, and for wood and water stations (or de¬ 
sires the same for the purposes mentioned in sections 1242 and 1243 of this chap¬ 
ter, as the case may be), and unless you proceed to have the damages to the same 

appraised on or before the.day of.. A. D. 18..., (which time must be at 

least four weeks after the first publication of the notice) said company will proceed 

to have the same appraised on the.day of.. (which must be at least eight 

weeks after the first publication of the notice) at which time you can appear be¬ 
fore the appraisers that may be selected. 

. Railway Company. 

By . Attorney or . Agent. 

The persons whose property is affected must be notified by name 
(21 N. W. R., 767). 

Section 1248. Said notice shall be published in some newspaper in the county, 
if there be one, if there is none, then in a newspaper published in the nearest 
county through which the proposed railroad is to run, for at least eight successive 
weeks prior to the day fixed for the appraisement at the instance of the corporation. 


2 











18 


XI. R4ILR0ADS CROSSING HIGHWAYS. 

Section 1262. Any such corporation may raise or lower any turnpike, plank 
road, or other highway, for the purpose of having its railway cross over or under 
the same; and in said cases said corporation shall put such highway, as soon as 
may be, in as good repair and condition as before such alteration. 

Where bridge and approaches are erected by a railway company in 
crossing a city street below grade, for the accommodation of travel 
over their track, the company must keep bridge and approaches in 
safe condition (66 Iowa, 422; 82 Iowa, 528; 54 N. W. R., 244). 

Section 1263. If the supervisor, trustees, city council, or other person hav¬ 
ing jurisdiction over such highway require further or different repairs or al¬ 
terations made thereon, or, if the same, in their opinion, is unsafe, they shall 
give notice thereof in writing to any agent or officer of the corporation, and if the 
parties are unable to agree respecting the same, either may apply by petition, 
setting out the facts to the circuit (district) court, or judge thereof, and such 
court or judge shall cause reasonable notice to be given the adverse party of the 
application; the petition shall be filed in the clerk’s office, and may be answered 
as in other cases. The court shall determine the matter in a summary way and 
make the necessary orders in relation thereto, giving such corporation a reasona¬ 
ble time to comply therewith, and upon failure to do so, said court may enjoin the 
corporation from using so much of its road as interferes with any such highways, 
and the court may award costs in favor of the prevailing party. 

Sec. 1264. Every such corporation when employed in raising or lowering any 
highway, or in making any other alteration by means of which the same may be 
obstructed, shall provide and keep in good order suitable temporary ways to enable 
travelers to avoid or pass such obstructions. 

Sec. 1266. Every such corporation shall maintain and keep in good repair 
all bridges, with their abutments, which it may construct for the purpose of ena¬ 
bling its railway to pass over or under any turnpike, highway, canal, water course, 
or other way. 

Sec. 1267. Every such corporation shall be liable for all damages sustained by 
any person in consequence of any neglect of the provisions of this chapter. 

Held, not applicable to liability of the corporation for acts of those 
not its agents or servants (23 Iowa, 522). 

Section 1269. When any corporation or person desires to contract a canal, 
turnpike, graded, macadamized or plank road or a bridge, as a work of public 
utility, although for private profit, such corporation or person may take such 
private property as may be deemed necessary for the right of way, not ex¬ 
ceeding one hundred feet in width, by pursuing the course prescribed in this 
chapter, all the provisions of which are made applicable in similar cases. 

**. ******** 

Sec. 1288. Every corporation constructing or operating a railway, shall make 
proper cattle-guards where the same enters or leaves any improved or fenced land, 
and construct at all points where such railway crosses any public highway, good, 


sufficient and safe crossings, and cattle-guards, and direct at such points at a suffi¬ 
cient elevation from such highway to admit of free passage of vehicles of every 
kind, a sign with large and distinct letters placed thereon, to give notice of 
the proximity of *the railway, and warn persons of the necessity of looking out for 
the cars; and any railway company neglecting or refusing to comply with the pro¬ 
visions of this section, shall be liable for all damages sustained by reason of such 
neglect or refusal, and in order for the injured party to recover, it shall only be 
necessary for him to prove such neglect or refusal. 

It is the duty of the company to repair and keep crossings in good 
and safe condition (42 Iowa, 224). 

XII. APPEALS FROM BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON 
ALLOWING OR REJECTING CLAIMS 
FOR DAMAGES. 

Section 959. Any applicant for damages claimed to be caused by the estab¬ 
lishment of any highway, may appeal from the final decision of the board of 
supervisors to the circuit [district] court of the county in which the land lies; but 
notice of such appeal must be served on the county auditor within twenty days 
after the decision is made. If the highway has been established on condition 
that the petitioners therefor pay the damages, such notice shall be served on the 
four persons first named in the petition for the highway, if there are that many 
who reside in the county. 

The question of damages, whether as to amount, or whether any 
damages shall be allowed, should be reviewed on appeal, not certiorari 
(see note, section 94G), and an appeal lies from the action of the 
board denying any damages (9 Iowa, 40; 37 Iowa, 184). Upon 
appeal the question of damages is tried de novo (18 Iowa, 327), and 
without asking the board to set aside the report of the appraisers (25 
Iowa, 214). The appeal must he taken within twenty days from the 
date of the order contemplated in section 946 (42 Iowa, 385). The 
notice required to be made upon the petitioners, must he upon the 
person himself, not his wife (50 N. W. Rep., 678). 

The board of supervisors acting upon a claim for and allowing 
damages, is a tribunal, and its action in the matter a civil case, and 
appeals therefrom are governed as appeals from justice’s courts (71 
Iowa, 385). 

A service of the notice, contemplated in the above section, upon a 
less number than therein specified does not give the court jurisdiction 
(42 N. W. R., 183). 

Section 960. An appeal may also be taken by the petitioner for the highway 
as to amount of damages, if the establishment of the highway has been made 
conditional upon his paying the damages, by his serving notice of such appeal on 
the county auditor and applicant for damages within twenty days after the decision 
of the board of supervisors, and filing a bond in the office of such auditor, with 
sureties to be approved by him conditioned for the payment of all costs occasioned 


20 


by such appeal, unless the appellant fails to recover a more favorable judgment in 
the circuit [district] court than was allowed him by such board. 

The notice of appeal must be served within twenty days upon the 
auditor; and also upon the applicant for damages within the same 
time (48 Iowa, 486). 

Section 961. In the cases contemplated in the two preceding sections, the 
auditor shall, within ten days after the notices aforesaid are served and filed in 
his office, make out and file in the office of the clerk of said court, a transcript of 
the papers on file in his office and proceedings of the board in relation to such dam¬ 
ages. The claimant for damages shall be plaintiff, and the petitioner for the high¬ 
way defendant, except the damages have been ordered paid out of the county 
treasury, in which case the county shall be defendant. 

Sec. 962. The amount of damages the claimant is entitled to, shall be ascer¬ 
tained by said circuit [district] court in the same manner as in actions by ordinary 
proceedings, and the amount so ascertained shall be entered of record, but no 
judgment shall be rendered therefor. The amount thus ascertained shall be certi¬ 
fied by the clerk to the board of supervisors, who shall, thereafter, proceed as if 
such amount had been by them allowed the claimant as damages. 

When the district court has determined the amount of damages, 
the board may proceed to final action, the same as if it had originally 
allowed the damages (42 Iowa, 385). 

If the amount of damages is increased on appeal, the board, upon a 
reconsideration of the matter, may refuse to establish the highway 
(47 Iowa, 32). 

Section 963 of the Code of 1873 was repealed by Chapter 44, Laws 
of 1896, and the following enacted in lieu thereof: 

Section 963. If the appeal be taken by the petitioner he shall pay the costs, 
unless the claimant recovers a less amount than was allowed him by the board. 
In all other cases the taxing of the costs shall rest in the discretion of the court. 

When the owner of land appeals from the award of damages, he is 
entitled to his costs, though the amount of damages awarded in the 
district court is not larger than that given by the appraisers (47 
Iowa, 102). 

The payment of the costs cannot be enforced until they have been 
adjudged; but the filing fee must be advanced (71 Iowa, 180). 

XIII. LOST FIELD NOTES. 

Section 964. When, by reason of the loss or destruction of the field notes of 
the original survey, or in cases of defective surveys or record, or in cases of such 
numerous alterations of any highway since the original survey, that its location 
cannot be accurately defined by the papers on file in the proper office, the board of 
supervisors of the proper county may, if they deem it necessary, cause such high¬ 
way to be re-surveyed, platted, and recorded as hereinafter provided. 


21 


The hoard may order a re-survey, where the necessary steps have 
been taken to establish a road, where the clerk failed to record the 
field notes, and no record of the final order was found (20 Iowa, 124); 
but if no highway has been formally established, a re-survey is of no 
effect (52 Iowa, 660). Where the recorded field notes of an original 
survey are not so obscure, repugnant, or otherwise defective, that 
they cannot be traced upon the earth, a re-survey should not be had 
(59 Iowa, 554). 

Unless the highway was originally established, no re-survey can be 
ordered (61 Iowa, 18); but where a portion of the record of the 
original survey was lost, and a re-survey was shown by the evidence 
to correspond with the original survey, the same might be adopted 
and acted upon (72 Iowa, 57). 

Section 965. A copy of the field notes, together with a plat of any highway 
surveyed under the provisions of the preceding section, shall be filed in the office 
of the county auditor, and thereupon, he shall give public notice by publication in 
some newspaper published within the county, or, if no paper is published in his 
county, by posting such notice in five of the most public places in the vicinity of 
such survey, that such survey has been made and that at some term of the board 
of supervisors, not less than twenty days from the publication, they will, unless 
good cause be shown against so doing, approve of such survey and plat, and order 
them to be recorded as in cases of the original establishment of a public highway. 

Sec. 966. In case objection shall be made by any person claiming to be in¬ 
jured by the survey made, the board of supervisors shall have full power to hear 
and determine upon the matter, and may, if deemed advisable, order a change to 
be made in the survey. Upon the final determination of the board, or in case no 
objection be made at the term named in the notice of the survey, they shall approve 
of the same and cause the field notes and plat of the highway to be recorded as in 
case of the establishment, or alteration of highways, and thereafter such records 
shall be received by all courts as conclusive proof of the establishment and exist¬ 
ence of such highway, according to such survey and plat. 

Sec. 967. If the same has not been heretofore done in any other manner, the 
county auditor shall, within six months after this code takes effect, cause every 
highway in the county, the legal existence of which is showq by the records and 
files of his office, to be platted in a book to be obtained and kept for that purpose, 
and known as the “highway plat book.” Each township shall be platted sepa¬ 
rately, on a scale of not less than four inches to the mile, and such auditor shall 
have all changes in or additions to the highways legally established, immediately 
entered upon said plat-book, with appropriate references to the files in which the 
papers relating to the same may be found. 

Sec. 968. Within the time aforesaid, the auditor shall furnish to the township 
clerks a certified copy of said plat-book, so far as the same relates to their respec¬ 
tive townships, which shall be carefully preserved in the office of said clerks. The 
auditor shall notify said clerks of all changes made in the plat-book relative to the 


22 


highways, so far as the same relate to their townships respectively; on receipt of 
which, said clerk shall immediately make corresponding changes on the maps in 
their respective offices. 

By section 972 the township clerk shall furnish the supervisor with 
a plat of his district. 

XIV. ESTABLISHMENT OF HIGHWAYS BY DEDICATION 
AND PRESCRIPTION. 

In addition to the statutory provisions relating to the establishment 
of highways, they may derive their existence from a dedication of the 
land to public use, and the acceptance thereof by the public; such 
dedication may he in writing, by parol, or any other acts inconsis¬ 
tent with any other inference (27 Iowa, 15; 34 Iowa, 144, 478); and 
it may also be established without proof of an express grant by the 
owner. Long use by the public, and the acquiescence of the owner 
therein, are evidence of a dedication; and such right acquired by use 
by the public, with the knowledge of the owner, becomes perfect in 
ten years (19 Iowa, 125; 22 Iowa, 457; 36 Iowa, 485; 39 Iowa, 23); 
but a local or timber road requires much stronger evidence of dedica¬ 
tion or prescriptive right than an acknowledged highway which is 
constantly traveled (22 Iowa, 457; 26 Iowa, 377; 29 Iowa, 73); and 
to constitute a highway by prescription, based upon use by the public 
for the required length of time, with the knowledge and consent of 
the owner of the soil, there must be an absence of proof that the 
highway was so used by leave, favor, or mistake. 

If it be shown that the apparent consent of the owner was based 
upon mistake as to the location of the section line on which it was 
intended the highway should run, no highway by prescription will 
be gained thereby (30 Iowa, 258; 34 Iowa, 144; 20 Pick., 291); con¬ 
tinued, uninterrupted adverse use by the public, is essential to estab¬ 
lish such right (40 Iowa, 637; 32 Ill., 278; Angel on Highways, 151; 
15 Ill., 241). 

If the owner through whose land a used way lies, agrees that it 
may be continued as a highway if his neighbors will fence it, and 
they do so and continue to use the way, the assent of the owner thus 
expressed and acted upon is a dedication of the road to the public 
(28 N. W. Rep., 650; 69 Iowa, 382). 

The owner of land, under the belief that a certain highway used 
by the public was a legally established highway, proposed that if the 
route of the highway be so changed as to run along the line of his 


23 


land lie would give the right of way; it was accordingly changed and 
used by the public for several years, and considerable expenditures 
made thereon in its improvement; it was held that the dedicator or 
his assignee could assume possession again, upon its being ascertained 
that the old highway was not a legal highway (37 Iowa, 250). 

When the public have traveled for more than ten years a route 
deviating slightly from that originally established, by reason of an 
obstacle in the surveyed route, and pursuant to some arrangement 
with adjacent owners and not by mistake merely, such traveled route 
becomes a highway by prescription (36 Iowa, 614); but the dedication 
of a highway for private purposes will not establish a public highway 
by prescription (36 Iowa, 485). 

i XV. CATTLE-WAYS ACROSS HIGHWAYS. 

Upon application by any person to the board of supervisors of any 
county for permission to construct a cattle-way across, over or under 
any public highway, the board may grant the same; provided said 
cattle-way shall not interfere with the travel upon such highway; but 
the person who applied for such cattle-way shall construct the same 
at his own expense, and be responsible for all damages that may arise 
from its construction or from the Same not being kept in good con¬ 
dition, and that the grade of the highway over the cattle-way shall 
not exceed one foot in ten. 

If the person on whose land such cattle-way is constructed, fails to 
keep the same in good repair, then it shall be the duty of the road 
supervisor to make all repairs necessary and charge the same to the 
owner of the land upon which such cattle-way is constructed, and 
upon his refusal or failure to pay, the supervisor shall recover the 
same in an action brought in his own name in any court having com¬ 
petent jurisdiction; which money, when collected, shall be expended 
for improving or repairing the public highway in the road district 
where such cattle-way is constructed: Provided, that no person shall 
construct any cattle-way so as to obstruct the freedom of the public 
in watering at any running stream (Laws of 1876, chapter 111). 

Any person or persons desiring to build a cattle-way across a public 
highway under any township bridge, may apply to the board of trus¬ 
tees of the township wherein such bridge is located, at the regular 
April meeting of such board. The said board of trustees may grant 
such right upon such application, and prescribe such conditions in 
regard to the maintenance of said bridge and cattle-way as they may 
deem just and proper (Act of 22d G. A., chapter 92, section 1). 


24 


XVI. SIDEWALKS ON HIGHWAYS. 

(Chapter 147, Laws of 1884.) 

Section 1 . That it shall be lawful for any owner of land adjoining or abut¬ 
ting on a public road or highway outside the limits of any city or town, to build 
and construct a sidewalk on and along said highway for his own use and for the 
use of the public traveling on foot, that said sidewalk shall not exceed four feet in 
width and shall be located along the side of the highway, and may be constructed 
of any material suitable for a foot walk, provided, that said sidewalk shall not be 
so constructed as to interfere with the proper use and enjoyment of any lands or 
premises along which it passes, and provided further, that the person building 
such walk shall keep the same in good repair, and shall be liable for all injuries 
occasioned by his failure to keep the same in repair. 

Sec, a. Any person who shall destroy, injure, or drive or ride upon a side¬ 
walk, so constructed or heretofore constructed, except at highway crossings, shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not less than five dollars for 
each offense, and shall be liable to the party who has built or maintained said 
sidewalk for all damages. 

XVII. STREET RAILWAY COMPANIES. 

Chapter 32 of the acts of the Eighteenth General Assembly, as 
amended by chapter 21 of the acts of the Twenty-third General As¬ 
sembly, granting the right of way to street railway companies over 
the highways adjacent to any city or incorporated town, is as follows: 

Section 1 . That any street railway company, now or hereafter organized 
under the laws of this state, to operate a street railway in any city or incorporated 
town m this state for the purpose of extending its railway beyond the limits of 
such city or town, may locate, build and operate either by animal or motor power 
its road over and along any portion of a highway which is of a width of one 
hundred feet or more. In such cases said company, as soon as practicable, shall 
put said highway in as good repair and condition, as the same was before its use 
or the purpose herein contemplated; and boards of supervisors are hereby au¬ 
thorized to accept for highway purposes, under this act, conveyances of land 
adjoining any highway, or part thereof, sufficient to increase said highway to the 
width of one hundred feet; provided however, that in any county within which 
any such street railway company desires to operate its line of railway over any 
highway, of not less than sixty-six feet in width, for a distance of not exceeding- 
two miles beyond the limits of any city or incorporated town to any state institu¬ 
tion there situated, said railway to be operated by animal or electric power only 
the board of supervisors of such county may grant the right to such street railway 
so to operate its line over said street not exceeding two miles or less, and under 
such limitations, rules and regulations as said board of supervisors may prescribe- 
provided further, that said board of supervisors shall have the power and such 
power is hereby reserved to them, to rescind, amend or modify such grant limita¬ 
tions, rules and regulations at any time it may so determine. 


25 


Sec. 2. . Unless the owners of land abutting each side of said highway, shall 
consent to its use, as contemplated in section 1, said railway shall pay all damages 
sustained by such land owners by reason of building said road, which damages 
shall be ascertained and paid in the same manner as provided for taking private 
property for works of internal improvement. Said company shall also be liable 
tor all damages sustained by any one resulting from the carelessness of its officers, 
agents, or servants in the construction or operation of its railway. 

XVIII. DUTIES OF TOWNSHIP TRUSTEES IN REFERENCE 

TO HIGHWAYS. 

Section 969.. The township trustees of each township shall meet on the first 
londay m April, or as soon thereafter as the assessment book is received by the 
township clerk, and on the first Monday in November in eath year. At the April 
meeting said trustees shall determine : 

1. Upon the amount of property tax to be levied for highways, bridges, guide- 
boards, plows, scrapers, tools, and machinery adapted to the construction and 
repair of highways, and for the payment of any indebtedness previously incurred 
for highway purposes, and levy the same, which shall not be less than one nor 
more than four mills on the dollar on the amount of the township assessment for 
that year; , 

2. Whether any portion of said tax shall be paid in labor, and if so, what 
portion may be so paid; 

o. Upon the amount that will be allowed for a day’s labor done by a man, and 
by a man and team, on the highway; 

4. At the November meeting said trustees shall divide their respective town¬ 
ships into such number of highway districts as they may deem necessary for the 
public good, and at said meeting they shall settle with the township clerk and 
supervisors of highways. {As amended by Chap. 22, Laws of 1894, and Chap. 
43, Laws of 1896.) 

Portions of the highway embraced within a city are not subject to 
a division into road districts, and the trustees cannot tax such por¬ 
tions (47 Iowa, 452). Road tax may he levied upon the property of 
railway companies, though such property may not be placed upon the 
assessor’s book (45 Iowa, 168). 

Section 970. The trustees shall set apart such portion of the tax specified in 
the preceding section of this chapter as they deem necessary for the purpose of 
purchasing the tools and machinery, and paying for the guide-boards mentioned 
in said section, and the same shall constitute a general township fund; and such 
trustees shall require the township clerk to give bond in such sum as they deem 
proper, conditioned as the bonds of county officers, which bond and the sureties 
thereon, shall be approved by said trustees. Said clerk shall take charge of and 
properly preserve and keep in repair such tools, implements and machinery as may 
be purchased with said general township fund, and shall have authority to deter¬ 
mine at what time the supervisors of the several districts may have the custody 
and use of the same, or any part thereof, and shall be responsible for the safe 
keeping of the same, when not in the custody of some one of the supervisors for 


26 


use in working the highways in his district, and shall receive such compensation 
as the trustees shall provide to paid out of such fund. 

The tools and machinery necessary for the construction and repair 
of highways are to be owned by the township, and not by the several 
road districts (45 Iowa, 520). 

The “general fund” is the money set apart as here contemplated, 
and does not include money received by the clerk from the county 
treasurer under section 976 (45 Iowa, 519). The trustees cannot buy 
implements, etc., for the district upon credit. The appropriation must 
precede the purchase (58 Iowa, 384; 58 Iowa, 396; 61 Iowa, 423). 

The township clerk may maintain an action against a road super¬ 
visor for moneys paid him belonging to the general township fund, 
if he refuses to pay on demand (59 Iowa, 376) and he may sue on 
the bond of such delinquent supervisor (62 Iowa, 468). 

Section 971. The trustees shall order and direct the expenditure of the 
general township fund. 

XIX. TAXATION FOR ROAD PURPOSES IN 
MUNICIPALITIES. 

(Chapter 158, Laws of 1882.) 

Section 1. That all property now subject to taxation in any city or town 
which by law is not subject to taxation for general municipal purposes, shall never¬ 
theless be liable to taxation for road purposes as may be provided by the council 
of such city or town, but not exceeding the rate of five mills upon the dollar of the 
assessed valuation thereof. 

XX. DUTIES OF TOWNSHIP CLERK IN REFERENCE TO 
HIGHWAYS. 

Section 972. The township clerk shall furnish each supervisor, to be by him 
transferred to his successor in office, with a copy of so much of the map or plat 
furnished such clerk by the auditor as relates to the highways in the district of 
such supervisor, and, from time to time, to mark thereon the changes in or addi¬ 
tions to such highways as the same are certified to him by the auditor. 

This map is not essential to the authority of the supervisor, and 
gives him no additional power (37 Iowa, 448). 

The map referred to in section 972, to be delivered by the township 
clerk to the highway supervisor, confers no additional authority upon 
him; and is no authority for his action; and in an action against him 
for trespass for throwing down fences of another while claiming to 
open a highway, he cannot justify under the map, although it pur¬ 
ports to contain all the legal highways in the township and represents 


27 


the line in question to be a legal highway. The rule that a ministe¬ 
rial officer is not liable for the execution of legal process does not 
apply; and he must show that in fact a highway did exist either de 
facto or de jure (34 Iowa, 494). 

Section 973. The township clerk shall, within four weeks after the trustees 
have levied the property tax; make out a tax list for each highway district in his 
township, which list shall be in tabular form and in alphabetical order, having 
distinct columns for land, town lots, and personal property, and carry out in a 
column the amount of the tax on each piece of land, and town lot, and on the 
amount of personal property belonging to each individual; and he shall carry out 
the amount of tax, to be paid in money, due from each individual in a column by 
itself; which list shall contain the names of all persons required to perform two 
days’ labor upon the highway as poll tax; and to enable the township clerk to make 
out such tax list, the assessor shall furnish the township clerk of each township, 
on or before the first day of April of each year, a correct copy of the assessment list 
of said township for that year, which list shall be the basis of such tax list. The 
county auditor shall furnish the several township clerks of his county with printed 
blanks necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this chapter. 

Under section 973 railroads are subject to assessment for road tax 
(41 Iowa, 63). 

Section 974. The township clerk shall make an entry upon such tax list show¬ 
ing what it is for,what highway district, and for what year, and shall attach to the 
list his warrant under his hand, in general terms, requiring the supervisor of such 
district to collect the taxes therein charged as herein provided; and no informality 
in the above requirements shall render any proceedings for the collection of such 
taxes illegal. The clerk is hereby required to cause such lists to be delivered to 
the proper supervisors of his township within thirty days after the levy, and take 
receipts therefor; and such list shall be full and sufficient authority for the super¬ 
visor to collect all taxes therein charged against resident property-holders in his 
district. 

The entry should be written on the back of the list and near the 
top when folded, and may be as follows: 

Highway tax list for year 18..., for highway district No.. .Township, 

.county, Iowa. 

The warrant of the township clerk may be attached to the list at 
the most convenient place, and may be, in form, as follows: 

No. 8—WARRANT OF TOWNSHIP CLERK TO COLLECT TAXES. 

To . Supervisor of Highway District No ., in . township, 

. county, Iowa. 

You are hereby authorized and commanded to collect the taxes charged in the 
within list as by statute in such cases made and provided. 

Given under my hand this.day of.18. Township Clerk. 

When the clerk delivers the tax list to the supervisors, he is required 
to take a receipt therefor from each supervisor receiving such list, 
which receipt may be in the following form: 










28 


No. 9.—SUPERVISOR’S RECEIPT FOR HIGHWAY TAX LIST. 

Received of.clerk of..township.county, Iowa, the tax list for 

highway district number., in.township, for the year 18..., amounting 

to.dollars and.cents. 

. Supervisor Highway Dist. No,... 

Section 975. The township clerk shall, on or before the second Monday in 
November in each year, make out a certified list of all lands, town lots and personal 
property on which the highway tax has not been paid, and the amount of tax 
charged on each parcel of land, town lot, or personal property, designating the 
district in which the same is situated, and transmit the same to the auditor, who 
shall enter the amount of tax to each piece of land or town lot and person taxed for 
personal property in the column ruled for that purpose, the same as other taxes, and 
deliver the same to the county treasurer, charging him with the same, which shall 
be collected by such treasurer in the same manner that county taxes are collected; 
and in case the township clerk shall fail or neglect to make such return, he shall 
forfeit and pay to the use of the township, for highway purposes, a sum equal to 
the amount of tax on said land, which may be collected by suit on his official bond 
before any court having competent jurisdiction. ( See Sec. 4, Chap. 48, Laws of 
1896 , on page 45 hereof.) 

The taxes are not rendered invalid because of some irregularities on 
the part of the clerk, made in the returns, or in the manner of placing 
the taxes upon the treasurer’s books (39 Iowa, 124; ibid, 151; 41 
Iowa, 153). 

Section 976. The county treasurer shall, on the last Monday in April and 
October of each year, pay to the township clerk all the highway taxes belonging 
to his township which are at such times in his hands, taking the duplicate receipts 
of such clerk therefor, one of which shall be delivered by such treasurer, on or 
before the first Monday in May and November in each year, to the trustees. 

These taxes when collected cannot be appropriated by the county 
nor disbursed by it; and if they have been illegally collected they 
cannot be recovered back in an action against the county by a tax¬ 
payer (51 Iowa, 522). 

The township clerk may maintain an action to recover money in hands 
of third persons belonging to his township (57 Iowa, 11); he is also 
the proper party to recover on supervisors’ bonds for failure to ac¬ 
count for taxes (59 Iowa, 376; 62 Iowa, 468). The clerk also is the 
proper person to make distribution of moneys paid him by the county 
treasurer, except the general fund (45 Iowa, 519), and a road super¬ 
visor who collects of the money is liable in an action on his bond, 
though he may have expended the same for road purposes (59 
Iowa, 376). 

By chapter 36, Laws of 1880, the county treasurer is required to 
furnish the township clerk a statement showing the amount of money 
collected and paid over for each road district. 










29 


(Chapter 36, 18 General Assembly, Sections 1 and 2.) 

Section 1 . It shall be the duty of the auditor to provide a column which shall 
show the road districts to which the highway taxes belong, as transmitted by the 
township clerk, according to section nine hundred and seventy-five of the Code of 
1873. 

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the county treasurer, when he pays to the town¬ 
ship clerk, highway taxes, according to section nine hundred and seventy-six, to 
furnish at each time and to each clerk, a statement showing the road district or 
districts to which it belongs. 

XXL HIGHWAY SUPERVISORS, ELECTION, QUALIFICA¬ 
TION AND DUTIES. 

No person shall vote for supervisor of highways of any highway 
district other than that in which he resides at the time of election. 
Votes for highway supervisors are to be separate and deposited in 
separate ballot boxes or compartments (Laws of 1878, chap. 71). 

Section 977. The supervisor must reside in the district for which he is 
elected or appointed, and no person shall be required to serve as supervisor who is 
exempt from performing labor on the highway. 

Supervisors are personally liable in damages for carelessness or 
negligence in performing their powers, or in diverting a stream of 
water from an adjacent land owner, caused in making an alteration 
in the highway (24 Iowa, 336). 

The supervisor may be personally guilty of trespass in removing an 
obstruction, if not done for the purpose of opening the highway, but 
to do injury to the owner (37 Iowa, 446). He may be restrained by 
injunction from repairing the highway in such a way as to interfere 
with the rights of an adjoining owner (36 Iowa, 583); as to remov¬ 
ing shade trees (see section 989). 

Section 978. Each supervisor shall be required to give bond in such sum and 
with such security as the township clerk may deem requisite, and conditioned that 
he will faithfully and impartially perform all the duties devolving upon him, and 
appropriate all moneys that may come into his hands by virtue of his office accord¬ 
ing to law; and in case of a vacancy occurring in any highway district within a 
township, the township clerk shall fill such vacancy by appointment. 

The bond above prescribed may be as follows: 

No. 10.—HIGHWAY SUPERVISOR’S BOND. 

Know all men by these presents: That.as principal, and.as 

sureties, of.county, Iowa, are held and firmly.bound unto the state of Iowa, 

for the use of the highway fund in highway district number.in.township, 

.county, Iowa, in the penal sum of....dollars, for the payment of which 

well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs and assigns, firmly by these 
presents. 








30 


The condition of the above obligation is such: That wnereas, the above bounden 

.has been elected (or appointed) supervisor in highway district number. 

in.township.county, Iowa: 

Now, if the said.will faithfully and impartially perform all the duties 

devolving upon him, and appropriate all moneys that may come into his hands by 
virtue of his office, according to law, then this obligation to be void, otherwise to 
be in full force and virtue. 

Signed this.day of.18... . Principal. 

Approved this.day of.18... .[• Sureties. 

. Township Clerk. .) 

State of Iowa, .County, ss. 

I,.solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the 

United States and the Constitution of the State of Iowa, and that I will faithfully 
and impartially discharge the duties of the office of highway supervisor according 
to the best of my ability. 

Subscribed and sworn to by.before me this.day of. 

A. D. 18... .. 

Ik the approval of official bonds, the clerk cannot exercise too 
much care. Supervisors frequently have considerable money come 
into their hands by virtue of their office, and should the same be 
squandered or misapplied, and the signers of the bond be irresponsi¬ 
ble, the clerk may become liable therefor. 

The penalty specified in the bond must not be less than double 
the amount the supervisor will be likely to have in his hands at any 
one time, which amount may readily be ascertained from the tax list 
and other records in the clerk’s possession. 

Any moneys coming into the hands of the supervisors should be 
paid to the township clerk, not to the trustees (62 Iowa, 468). 

Section 979. The township clerk shall notify each supervisor within five 
days after his election or appointment, and if he shall fail to appear before said 
township clerk, unless prevented 'by sickness, within ten days, and give bond and 
take the oath of office, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of five dollars, and in case 
of his failing or refusing to pay the same, his successor in office shall collect the 
said amount by suit or otherwise, and apply the same to the repairing of high¬ 
ways in his district. 

The notice of the election or appointment of highway supervisors 
may be in the following form: 

No. 11.—NOTICE OF ELECTION OR APPOINTMENT OF HIGHWAY 

SUPERVISOR. 

To.: You are hereby notified that you have been elected (or 

appointed as the case may be) highway supervisor for highway district number. 

in.township.county, Iowa, and you are required to appear before the 

undersigned and give bond and take the oath of office within ten days after the 
service of this notice; and on your failure to do so, you will be liable to pay a 
forfeiture of five dollars. 

Given under my hand this.day of.. 18... 

. Township Clerk. 





























31 


The notice may be served by the same person and return made in 
the same manner, as other notices of a like character are served and 
returned (See forms Nos. 3, 4 and 5). 

Section 980. The supervisor shall, within ten days after receiving the tax 
list specified in sections nine hundred and seventy-three and nine hundred and 
seventy-four, post up in three conspicuous places within his district, written no¬ 
tices of the amount of highway tax assessed to each tax payer in said district. 

The better way is to copy off three tax lists from the list received 
from the township clerk and post them up, and the supervisor can 
then keep the original for reference. 

Section 981. The supervisor shall cause all tax collected by him to be 
expended for the purposes specified in section nine hundred and sixty-nine of this 
code, on or before the first day of November of that year, except the portion set 
apart for a general township fund as provided in said section, which shall be by 
the supervisor paid over to the township clerk from time to time as collected, and 
his receipt taken therefor. (As amended by Chap. 43, Laws of 1896.) 

The receipt may be in the following form: 

No. 12.—CLERK’S RECEIPT TO HIGHWAY SUPERVISOR. 

$. .township.county, Iowa. 

Received of.supervisor of highway district number.in.town¬ 
ship, .county, Iowa, the sum of.dollars and.cents, general township 

fund collected by him. . Township Clerk. 

Section 982. The money tax levied upon the property in each district, 
except that portion set apart as a general township fund, whether collected by the 
supervisor or county treasurer, shall be expended for highway purposes in that 
district, and no part thereof shall be paid out or expended for the benefit of another 
district. 

The township trustees have no control over the road fund in the 
hands of the township clerk, except that part which may be set apart 
for general township purposes; the balance is to be expended by the 
road supervisor in his discretion, and he can demand and receive it 
from the township clerk (Henderson vs. Simpson , 45 Iowa, 519). 

An order for expenditure of money for work in the district in 
which raised and in part in another is illegal (46 N.W. Rep., 1055). 

Section 983. The supervisor shall require all able bodied male residents of 
his district between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five, to perform two days’ 
labor upon the highway between the first day of April and September of each year. 

Sec. 984. The supervisor shall give at last three days’ notice of the day or 
days and place designated to work the highways to all persons subject to work 
thereon, or who are charged with a highway tax within his district, and all persons 
so notified must meet said supervisor at such time and place with such tools, 
implements, and teams as the supervisor may designate, and shall labor diligently 











32 


under the direction of the supervisor for eight hours each day; and for such two 
days’ labor performed, the supervisor shall give to the person a certificate, which 
certificate shall be evidence that such person has performed labor on the public 
highway, and shall exempt such person from performing labor in payment of 
highway poll tax in that or any other highway district for the same year. And 
the supervisor shall give any person who may perform labor in payment of his 
highway tax, if demanded, a receipt showing the amount of money earned by 
such labor, which shall be evidence of the payment of said tax to the amount 
specified in the receipt. 

Should there he any persons between the ages of twenty-one and 
forty-five residing in the district, whose names are not on the list, it 
is the duty of the supervisor to place their names on said list, and 
compel all such to perform labor, as required in this chapter. 

A day’s work shall be nine faithful hours, in those localities where 
chapter 200 of the 20 Gr. A. has been adopted (20 Gr. A., chapter 200, 
section 14, page 31). 

The notice mentioned in the foregoing section may be either verbal 
or written. As the statute points out no manner in which the notice 
shall be served, it seems that any manner is sufficient, provided the 
person to be notified receives it, and no person can be compelled to 
perform the labor until such notice shall have been given. 

Should it be necessary or more convenient to give a written notice, 
it may be in form as follows: 


No. 13.—NOTICE TO PERFORM LABOR ON THE HIGHWAY. 

_ To.: You being subject to perform labor on the highway in this 

district, you are hereby notified to appear with [here state what implements], on 
the.day of.18...at...o’clock...M., at [here name the place], for the pur¬ 
pose of working out your said highway tax. Given under my hand this.day 

of.18... . Supervisor of Highway Dist. No . 

A failure to notify the tax payer of the time and place to work out 
his tax will not be cause to restrain the collection of the whole tax 
(45 Iowa, 168). 

To each person who shall have paid his highway tax, the supervisor 
should give a certificate or receipt, and whether paid in cash or labor, 
or in both, the following form will be found most convenient: 


No. 14. 


$ .. . 

Received of.dollars and. 

and Personalty Road Tax and Road Tax on. 

Paid in Labor, $. . 

Paid in Cash, $. 

Total, $. 


County, Iowa,.18. 

...cents, being in full of his Poll 
.....for the year 18. 


Twp. 


Supervisor Road District No. 























33 


Section 985. Each person liable to perform labor on the public highway as 
poll tax, who shall fail or neglect to attend, either in person or by satisfactory 
substitute, at the time and place appointed, with the designated tool, implement, 
or team, having had three days’ notice thereof, or having attended, shall spend 
his time in idleness, or disobey the supervisor, or fail to furnish said supervisor 
within five days thereafter, some satisfactory excuse for not so attending, shall 
forfeit and pay to said supervisor the sum of three dollars for each day’s delin¬ 
quency, and in case of failure to pay such forfeit within ten days, the supervisor 
shall recover the same by action in the name of the supervisor, and no property or 
wages belonging to said person shall be exempt to the defendant on execution. 
Said judgment to be obtained before any justice of the peace in the proper town¬ 
ship; which money when collected shall be expended on the public highway. 

No person subject to work on the highways will be released from per¬ 
forming the'required two days’ labor, even should a satisfactory excuse 
be given for not appearing at the time required as provided above. 

In municipal corporations all able-bodied male residents of the cor¬ 
poration between the ages of twenty-one and forty-live years, shall, 
between the first day of April and the first day of September each 
year, either by themselves or satisfactory substitutes, perform two 
days’ labor upon the streets, alleys or highways within such corpor¬ 
ation, at such times and places as the proper officer may direct, and 
upon three days’ notice in writing given; the corporation may pro¬ 
vide that for each day’s failure to attend and perform the labor as 
required, at the time and place specified, the delinquent shall forfeit 
and pay to the corporation any sum not exceeding three dollars for 
each day’s delinquency, and in case of failure to pay such forfeit 
within ten days the supervisor of highways or street commissioner of 
said corporation shall recover the same bv action in the name of the 
supervisor of the highways or street commissioner of said corporation; 
and no property or wages belonging to said person shall be exempt to 
the defendant on execution; said judgment to be obtained before the 
mayor of said corporation, or any justice of the peace in the proper 
township; which money, when collected, shall be expended upon the 
streets of the corporation; and that all such sums remaining unpaid 
on the first day of September in each year may be treated and col¬ 
lected as taxes on property, and the same shall be a lien on all real 
property of the delinquent that may be listed for taxation, and assessed 
and owned by him on the first day of November of the same year 
(code of 1873, section 487, as amended by chapter 32, Laws of 1882). 

A man who is not able-bodied is not liable to the penalty prescribed 
for failure to appear when summoned by the supervisor to perform 
labor on the highway, nor would the failure of such person to make 
his disabilities known to the supervisor change the rule (31 Iowa, 75). 


3 


34 


Any person who is an active member of any fire engine, hook and 
ladder, hose, or any other company for the extinguishment of fire, or 
the protection of property at fires under control of the corporate 
authorities of any city or incorporated town, shall, during the time 
he shall continue an active member of such company, be exempt from 
the performance of any military duty, and from the performance of 
labor on the highways on account of poll tax, and from serving as a 
juror (code of 1873, section 1560). 

Section 1561. Any person who has served in any company for the term of 
ten years, as provided in the preceding section, shall be entitled to receive from' 
the foreman of the company of which he shall have been a member, a certificate to 
that effect, and on the presentation of such certificate to the clerk or recorder of 
the proper city or town, it shall be the duty of such clerk or recorder to file the' 
same in his office, and to give his certificate, under the corporate seal, to the per~ 
son entitled thereto, setting forth the name of the company of which such person 
shall have been a member, and the duration of such membership; and such certi¬ 
ficate shall be received in all courts and places as evidence that the person legally 
holding the same is entitled to the exemption hereinbefore mentioned. 

Sec. 1562. To entitle any person to exemption from labor on the highway 
before the expiration of the aforesaid term of ten years, he shall, on or before the 
first day of April of each year, file with the clerk or recorder of the proper city or 
town, a certificate signed by the foreman of the company of which said person is 
a member, that the person holding said certificate is an active member of said fire 
company, and thereupon the clerk or recorder shall enter said exemption upon the 
street tax list for that year. 


XXII. MILITIA. 

(Chapter 74, Laws 18th G. A., 1880.) 

Section 19. Every officer and soldier of the Iowa National Guard shall be 
exempt from jury duty, from head or poll tax of every description, during the 
term he shall perform military duty. The uniforms, arms and equipments of 
each member of the State Guard shall be exempt from all suits, distress, execu¬ 
tions or sales for debt or payment of taxes. 

XXIII. LABOR ON HIGHWAYS BY THE POOR. 

By section 1361 of the code, as enacted by the Eighteenth General 
Assembly, chapter 133, the trustees of each township shall provide 
for the relief of such poor persons in their respective townships as 
should not be sent to the poor house; and where a city is embraced 
within the limits of a township, the board of supervisors may appoint 
an overseer of the poor, who shall have within the city the powers 
and duties of furnishing relief. “ And when in the opinion of the 
trustees or overseer the person asking aid, or any member of his 
family, is able to work, and such condition would not be oppression, 
they may require the person or any member of his family who is able 


35 


to work, as a condition on which relief shall be granted, to earn the 
relief by labor on the public highway at the rate of not to exceed 
sixty-five cents per day. The trustees of townships or overseers of the 
poor are also authorized to grant relief by furnishing food to transient 
persons who appear needy and who are able to work, but such relief 
shall not exceed the sum of forty cents per day, and they may require 
such able bodied persons to labor faithfully on the streets or highway 
at the rate of five cents an hour in payment for and as a condition of 
granting the relief. Said labor shall be performed under the direc¬ 
tion of the officer having charge of working the streets or highways.” 

Under the criminal code of the state as expressed in section 4737, 
convicted criminals may be required to labor on the public highways? 
on or about public buildings, etc., in such locality where confined 
during a reasonable part of the day; the time of labor shall not ex¬ 
ceed eight hours per day. 

XXIV. IMPROVEMENT OF HIGHWAYS. 

The following law, being chapter 200, Acts of the Twentieth Gen¬ 
eral Assembly, seems to be partly optional, both on the part of the 
board of supervisors and of the voters of eacq township: 

Sections 4 to 15, inclusive, apply only in townships adopting the 
plan provided by the Act—the mode of adoption being fixed by sec¬ 
tion 4—and unless thus adopted, those sections are not in force. 
When once adopted, it can only be changed back to the old plan after 
a two years’ trial, as provided in section 4. 

(Chapter 200, Laws of 1884, as Amended by Chapter 22, Laws of 1894.) 

Section 1. That the board of supervisors of each county shall at the time of 
levying taxes for other purposes, levy a tax of not more than one mill on the dollar 
of the assessed value of the taxable property in their county, which tax shall be 
collected at the same time and in the same manner as other taxes are collected 
and shall be known as the county road fund, and shall be paid out only on the 
order of the board of supervisors for work done on the highways of the county, in 
such places as the board shall determine, and the county treasurer shall receive 
the same compensation for collecting this tax as he does for collecting corporation 
taxes; provided, that the amount levied by the board of township trustees under 
section 969 of the code, together with the amount thus levied, shall not be in 
excess of five (5) mills. 

Sec. 2. The board of supervisors shall at their regular meeting in April of 
each year, determine from the auditor’s and treasurer’s books, the amount of 
money collected and credited to said tax fund. They shall also determine the 
manner in which said tax shall be expended, whether by contract or otherwise. 

Sec. 3. That section 986 be and the same is hereby repealed, and [the] follow¬ 
ing adopted in lieu thereof. 


36 


Sec. 986. The supervisor shall be allowed the sum of two dollars per day for 
each day’s labor, including the time necessarily spent in notifying the hands and 
making out his returns, which sum shall be paid out of the highway fund, after 
deducting his two days' work. When there is no money in the hands of the 
clerk with which to pay the said supervisor, he shall be entitled to receive a cer¬ 
tificate for the amount of labor performed, which certificate shall be received in 
payment of his own highway tax for any succeeding year. 

A supervisor is not entitled to an order payable in money out of 
funds afterwards coming into the treasury of the district; but he 
may have a certificate which can be used in payment of his subse¬ 
quent highway taxes (89 Iowa, 476). 

Sec. 4. The board of township trustees may, at their regular meeting in 
April, 1884, or any regular April meeting thereafter, on petition of a majority of 
the voters of said township, consolidate the several road districts in the township 
into one highway district; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall 
be construed to prevent the trustees from again subdividing the township into 
sub-districts and returning to the present plan of road work, at any regular April 
meeting, after two years’ trial of the plan provided by this act. 

Sec. 5. The trustees may order the township highway tax for the succeeding 
year paid in money and have the same collected by the county treasurer the same 
as other taxes. 

Sec. 6. In cases where the township shall have organized into one highway 
district, as contemplated in section 4 of this act, the board of township trustees 
shall order and direct the expenditure of all the highway funds and labor belong¬ 
ing or owing to the township; and to this end the trustees may let by contract to 
the lowest responsible bidder (should they deem him competent to the proper per¬ 
formance of such work) any part, or all of the work on the highways for that year, 
in the township, or they may appoint a township superintendent of highways, with 
one or more assistants, should they deem it best to do so, to superintend all or any 
part of such work, subject always to the direction of the township trustees; pro¬ 
vided only, the said trustees shall not incur any indebtedness for such purposes, 
unless the same has been, or shall at the time be, provided for by an authorized 
levy. 

Sec. 7. The trustees shall cause both the property and poll road tax belong¬ 
ing to the township, to be equitably and judiciously expended for highway pur¬ 
poses in the township highway district, and shall cause the highway to be kept in 
as good condition as the means at their command will admit of. 

Sec. 8. The trustees shall cause the noxious weeds growing on the highways 
in their township to be cut twice a year, if deemed necessary to exterminate the 
same, and to have them cut at such times as to prevent their growing to seed; and 
for this purpose, the trustees may allow any land owner a reasonable compensation 
for destroying such weeds on the highways abutting his lands and have him 
credited for the same on his road tax for that year. 

Sec. 9. The trustees shall fix the term of office and per diem of the superin¬ 
tendent of highways and his assistants, should such be employed; provided, the 
superintendent shall not be hired for more than one year at a time and his per 
diem shall not exceed three dollars; and that the contract shall be conditioned so 
that the trustees may dispense with his services at any time, when in their judg¬ 
ment it shall be for the best interests of the township so to do. 


37 


Sec. 10. The trustees shall cause at least seventy-five per cent, of the town¬ 
ship highway tax to be properly expended for highway purposes by the fifteenth 
day of July of each year. 

Sec. 11. In all cases where the one highway district plan shall be adopted, the 
highway funds belonging to the several road districts in the township, prior to the 
change, shall be placed to the credit of the general township highway fund, and 
all claims for work done or material furnished for road purposes and unsettled for 
prior to the change, shall be paid out of such funds. 

Sec. 12. The trustees shall require the township clerk, contractor, and super¬ 
intendent contemplated in this act, each to qualify, as other township officers, and 
to execute a bond with approved sureties, for twice the amount of money likely to 
come into their hands, respectively, by reason of this act. 

Sec. 13. The trustees may receive the same compensation per day for the time 
necessarily spent in looking after the highways, as they do for other township 
business; the county treasurer shall receive the per cent, for collecting the highway 
taxes contemplated in this act, that he does for collecting corporation taxes; and 
the township clerk shall receive two per cent, of all the money coming into his 
hands by reason of this act, and by him paid out for road purposes. 

Sec. 14. Nine hours’ faithful service by a man, or man and team, shall be 
required for a day’s work on the road; provided, that except on extraordinary 
occasions no person shall be required to go more than three miles from his place 
of residence to work on the roads; and for the purposes of this act, the residence 
of a man with a family shall be construed to be where his family resides, and 
for a single man it shall be at the place where he is at work. 

Sec. 15. The powers, duties, and accountability imposed on highway super¬ 
visors, so far as consistent with this act, shall apply with equal force to contractors, 
superintendents and assistants contemplated in this act. 

Sec. 16. In all cases where the one highway district for the townsmp shall 
have been adopted, it shall be competent for the township trustees to designate 
when the same shall take effect as to the working on the roads. 

Sec. 17. Sections four (4) to fifteen (15) inclusive, of this act, shall apply and 
be in force only in such townships as adopt the one highway district plan pro¬ 
vided for in this act. 

The supervisor should keep an accurate account of each day actually 
spent by him in the discharge of his duties, and make a detailed 
statement of the same to the trustees on the first Monday in November. 

Under section 984, eight hours constitutes a day’s labor on the 
highway, but by section 14, chapter 200, Laws of 1884, in townships 
adopting the one highway district plan therein provided, nine hours 
faithful work constitutes a day's labor. 

The certificate provided for in section 986 may be substantially as 
follows: 


38 


No. 15.—CERTIFICATE OF LABOR PERFORMED ON HIGHWAY. 

.township, .county, Iowa. 

I, .. clerk of.township, .county, Iowa, do hereby 

certify that.has performed [here state the number of days] day’s labor on 

the highway in highway district number.in.township, .county, Iowa, 

during the year 18..., and that there is no money in my hands with which to pay 
the same. Given under my hand this.day of.18... 

. Township Clerk. 

Should there be money in the hands of the clerk subsequent to 
the giving of such receipt sufficient to pay the same off, he may do 
so, and take up said receipt and credit the amount on his books. 

Section 987. (As umc)ided by Chap. 43, Laws of 1836.) The supervisors of 
the several districts of each township shall report to the township clerk on the 
first Monday of April and November of each year, which report shall embrace the 
following items: 

1. The names of all persons in his district required to perform labor on the 
public highway, and the amount performed by each; 

2. The names of all persons against whom suits have been brought as required 
by section nine hundred and eighty-five, and the amount collected of each; 

3. The names of all persons who have paid their property highway tax in 
labor, and the amount paid by each; 

4. The names of all persons who have paid their property tax in money, and 
the amount paid by each; 

5. A correct list of all non-resident lands and town lots on which the highway 
tax has been paid, and the amount paid by each; 

6. A correct list of all non-resident lands and town lots on which the highway 
tax has not been paid, and the amount of tax on each piece; 

7. The amount of all moneys coming into his hands by virtue of his office, and 
from what sources; 

8. The manner in which moneys coming into his hands by virtue of his office 
have been expended, and the amount, if any, in his possession; 

9. The number of days he has been faithfully employed in the discharge of 
his duty; 

10. The condition of the highways in his district, and such other items and 
suggestions as said supervisor may wish to make, which report shall be signed and 
sworn to by said supervisor, and filed by the township clerk in his office. 

It is the duty of the township clerk to provide the supervisors with 
the necessary blanks on which to make out their reports; but should 
no blanks be provided, the supervisors may use the following form in 
making out such reports, which may be altered and changed when 
necessary to meet the circumstances of each case. 














39 


No. 16.—REPORT OF HIGHWAY SUPERVISOR.* 

State of Iowa. I 

.County, ) Highway District No.. .township. 

To the Township Clerk of said Township: 

The undersigned, supervisor of said highway district, herewith presents his 
semi-annual report in compliance with section 987, code of 1873, as follows: 



Poll Tax 

Property Tax 

Sued for 
Poll Tax 


NAMES. 

Of persons required to 
perform labor and pay tax 
for highway purposes. 

Days l,b’r 
perf’m’d 

Amount 
paid 
in cash 

Amount 

levied 

- 1 

Amount 
paid in 

labor 

Amount 

paid in 

cash 

No 

Am’t col¬ 

lected 

REMARKS 

Allen, John. 

Baker, A. 

Coons, S. T. 

2 

1 

1 

25 

. 

$12 

6 

00 

00 

$6 

1 

00 

25 

$6 

4 

00 

75 

1 

5 

50 



This report is required to he made on the first Monday of April 
and November of each year. 

The list of non-resident lands and town lots specified in the fore¬ 
going section, may be in form as follows: 


No. 17.—LIST OF NON-RESIDENT LANDS AND TOWN LOTS. 


In highway district number.in.township.county, Iowa, showing 

the highway taxes for the year 18., paid and unpaid, since last report: 


P„rts of Sections, 
Tame of Town, or 
Sub-division. 

,Sec. or 
Lot 

Twp. 

or 

Block 

Range 

Amount 
of Tax 
Levied 

Amount 

Paid 

Amount 

Unpaid 

Remarks 

W!/, S. WM- 

6 

67 

42 

6 

00 



6 

00 


N. W. N. W. 

13 

67 

40 

12 

00 

6 

00 

6 

00 



The account of moneys received and expended as above provided, 
should he accompanied with receipts or vouchers for all money paid 
out in his official capacity, and may be in form as follows: 


No. 18.—HIGHWAY SUPERVISOR’S CASH ACCOUNT. 

District No. .township. 

MONEYS RECEIVED. 

18.Amount on hand at last report.... 

“ “ received from township clerk. . 

“ “ collected on poll tax, as shown herein..... 

“ “ “ on property tax, as shown herein. 

“ “ by suits for poll tax, as shown herein. 

Total.. 


$ 10 00 
. 100 00 
. 25 00 
. 50 00 
. 10 00 


.$195 00 


MONEYS EXPENDED. 

18.P’d for lab. on pub. highways, as shown by rec’pts herewith..$100 00 

“ “ bridge material, as shown by receipts herewith. 50 00 

Balance on hand. 45 00 


Total. 


-$195 00 


•Blanks for Highway Supervisors’ Annual Reports may be had of Acres, Blackmar <fc Co., 
Burlington, Iowa. 



















































































40 


Attached to his report of taxes paid and unpaid, list of non-resident 
lands and town lots, and of moneys received and expended as above 
provided, must be his affidavit showing the correctness of said report, 
number of days he has been employed in the performance of his 
official duties, and the condition of the highways in his district at the 
time of such report, which affidavit may be in form as follows: 

No. 19.—OATH TO HIGHWAY SUPERVISOR’S REPORT. 

The State of Iowa, ) gg 

.County, ) I,.being duly sworn, on oath say that 

I am supervisor of highways in district No.of.township, in said county and 

state; that the above and foregoing report is true and correct in every particular; 

that I have been faithfully employed.days during the last.months in the 

discharge of my duties as highway supervisor, and that the highways in said dis¬ 
trict are in.condition. ... Highway Supervisor. 

Subscribed and sworn to by..before me,.18. 


Each highway supervisor should keep in a book kept for that pur¬ 
pose,* a correct account between himself and the district, showing 
the time, from whom, and the amounts of all moneys received; the 
time, to whom, for what, and the amounts of all moneys paid out, 
which account may be substantially as follows: 


No. 20.—ACCOUNT BETWEEN HIGHWAY SUPERVISOR AND THE 
DISTRICT. 

...Supervisor in account with 

Highway District No., .township, .county, Iowa. 

MONEYS RECEIVED. Dr. 


18... April 1. 
“ “ 5. 

“ “ 20 . 


To cash from Township Clerk.$100 00 

“ “ “ J. Taff, on Tax list. 20 00 

“ “ “ T. Laub, on Tax list. 70 00 


Total.:......$190 00 


MONEYS EXPENDED. 


Cr. 


18...May 4. 
“ “ 10 . 
« « 12 . 
“ “ 15. 

“ July *1. 

“ “ 20 . 


By cash paid T. Lee, for 1 iber, 

vouch. No. 1... 

...$ 15 00 

“ “ “ G. Fox, for labor, 

“ “ 2... 

... 10 00 

“ “ “ A. Mann, for nails, 

“ “ 3... 

... 1 00 

“ “ “ W. IB, for timber, 

“ “ 4... 

... 100 00 

“ “ “ J. Robb, for labor, 

“ “ 5... 

... 15 00 

“ “ “I. Frame, for plank, 

“ “ 6... 

... 25 00 

“ “ “ Township Clerk, 

“ “ 7... 

... 24 00 


-$190 00 


As the supervisor is charged by the township clerk with the amount 
on the tax list, it is necessary that he use care in noting the number 
days’ labor performed and the money paid by the persons therein 
named; he must be enabled to show in his settlement with the clerk 
how many have paid their tax in labor and how many in money; the 


Highway Supervisor's Account Books may be had by sending $1.00 to Acres, Blackmar & Co 
Burlington, Iowa. ’ ’ 





































41 


amount of tax due in labor or poll tax, and the amount of property 
tax due and unpaid. No money shall be expended without taking a 
receipt or voucher therefor, to be filed away until his settlement with 
the township clerk. Unless the supervisor can account for all moneys 
coming into his hands, he will be liable for any deficit. 

Section 988. If it appears from such report that any person has failed to 
perform the two days’ labor required, or any part thereof, and that the supsrvicor 
has neglected to collect the amount in money required to be paid in case of such 
failure, the clerk shall add the amount required to be paid in case of such failure 
to such person’s property tax, and certify the same as required in section nine 
hundred and seventy-five, and the auditor shall enter the same on the proper tax 
list, and the treasurer shall collect the same as required in said section nine hun¬ 
dred and seventy-five. 

Sec. 989. The supervisor is not permitted to cut down or injure any tree- 
growing by the wayside which does not obstruct the highway, and which stands 
in front of any town lot, enclosure, or cultivated field, or any ground reserved 
for any public use, where such tree is intended to be preserved for shade or orna¬ 
ment by the proprietor of the land on or adjacent to which the tree is standing; 
and it shall not be lawful for the supervisor to enter upon any enclosed or unen¬ 
closed lands for the purpose of taking timber therefrom, without first receiving 
permission from the owner or owners of said lands; nor to destroy or injure the 
ingress or egress to any property, or to turn the natural drainage of the surface 
water to the injury of the adjoining owners; providing , it shall be the duty of the 
supervisors to use strict diligence in draining the surface water from the public 
highway in its natural channels, and to this end he may enter upon the enclosed 
or reinclosed [unenclosed] adjoining lands for the purpose of removing obstruc¬ 
tions from such natural channels that impede the flow of such water. (As amend¬ 
ed by Chap. 41, Laics of 1896.) 

Supervisors will be restrained from removing standing trees in the 
highway in front of the owner’s premises, unless such removal is 
demanded by the wants of public travel and convenience; and the 
determination of the supervisors in such cases is not conclusive, but 
may be reviewed and controlled (36 Iowa, 583; 46 Iowa, 66). 

The making of a small ditch ip front of a residence is not such an 
interference with the owner’s rign-tr .of egress or ingress as gives him 
right of action (40 N. W. R. 703). ’ • 

Shade trees at sides of highway which do not obstruct the traveled 
tract should not be removed (61 Iowa, 471). 

Section 990. When notified in writing that any bridge or any portion of 
the public highway is unsafe, the supervisor shall be liable for all damage result¬ 
ing from the unsafe or impassible condition of the highway or bridge, after allow¬ 
ing a reasonable time for repairing the same. And if there is in the district any 
bridge erected or maintained by the county, then, in that event, he shall, on such 
notice of the unsafe condition of such bridge, as soon as he reasonably can, 
obstruct passage on such bridge, and use strict diligence in notifying at least one 
member of the board of supervisors of his county, in writing, of the unsafe con¬ 
dition of such bridge; and if he fails so to obstruct and notify, he shall be liable 
for all damages growing out of the unsafe condition of such bridge, occurring 
between_the time he is so notified and such time as he neglects in obstructing such 
passage f and any person who shall remove such obstruction shall be liable for all 


42 


damages occurring to any person resulting from such removal; provided , that 
nothing herein contained shall be construed to relieve the county from liability for 
the defects of such bridge. (As amended by chapter 52, Laws of 1878.) 

It is not incumbent upon the road supervisor to build or repair 
bridges requiring large expenditures of money; nor is be liable for 
failing to repair at large expense. Such matters are under the charge 
of the county supervisors (18 Iowa, 181). 

He is required to build only such bridges as he can build with the 
limited means at his disposal (37 N. W. R., 138). 

It is the duty of any person knowing any portion of the highway 
or any bridge to be in an unsafe condition to notify the supervisor of 
the fact at once; but to make him liable for neglect, the notice must 
be in writing (26 Iowa, 270), and may be in form as follows: 

No. 21.—NOTICE TO SUPERVISOR OF UNSAFE CONDITION OF 
HIGHWAY OR BRIDGE. 

To . Supervisor of highways in Highway District No . in . toicnship, 

. county, Iowa: 

You are hereby notified that the highway (or bridge) [here accurately describe 
the highway and place of defect] is in an unsafe condition. 

Dated this.day of.18... . 

The statute makes no provision in reference to the service and 
return of the above notice, but it will be sufficient if it be conclu¬ 
sively shown that such notice was given. 

The better way is to have the notice served and return made in the 
same manner that notices to property owners are served and returned, 
except that no publication is required (See forms Nos. 3, 4 and 5). 

Section 991. For making such extraordinary repairs, the supervisor may 
call out any or all the able-bodied men of the district in which they are to be made, 
but not more than two days at one time without their consent, and persons so 
called out shall be entitled to receive a certificate from the supervisor, certifying 
the number of day’s labor performed, which certificate shall be received in pay¬ 
ment for highway tax for that or any succeeding year at the rate per day estab¬ 
lished for that year. 

Sec. 992. If any able-bodied man, when duly summoned for any such purpose, 
fails to appear and labor diligently by himself or substitute, or send satisfactory 
excuse therefor, or to pay the value of such work in money at any time before suit 
is brought, he is liable to a fine of ten dollars, to be recovered by suit before any 
justice of the peace in the name of the supervisor, and for the use of the highway 
fund of the district. 

One summoned to work on the highway, who is not an able-bodied 
man, and who does not appear and work, or make known his condi¬ 
tion when summoned, does not thereby deprive himself of the benefit 
of the exemption (31 Iowa, 75). 








43 


Removing Obstructions in Highways. 

Section 993. The supervisor shall remove obstructions in the highways 
caused by fences or otherwise, but he must not throw down or remove fences which 
do not directly obstruct the travel upon t.ie highway until reasonable notice in 
writing, not exceeding six months, has been given to the owner of the land 
enclosed in part by such fence. 

The reasonable time will depend on circumstances, owing to the 
season of the year, and the damage that may result from the remov¬ 
ing or throwing down of such fence, and is a fact for the determina¬ 
tion of a jury (39 Iowa, 607; 40 Iowa, 684). The notice may be 
served and returned in the manner that notices to property owners are 
served and returned when served on persons residing within the 
county (See forms Nos. 3, 4 and 5). Such notice may be in the fol¬ 
lowing form: 

No. 22.—NOTICE TO REMOVE FENCES OBSTRUCTING THE 
HIGHWAY. 

To.: You are hereby notified that you are required to remove your 

fence [here describe it] now obstructing the highway, on or before the.day 

of.18..., or said fence will be removed by the undersigned. 

Dated this.day of.18... 

. Supervisor of Highway District No... 

To obstruct a highway it is not necessary that it should be rendered 
impassable. An obstruction is an impediment; a hindrance; that 
which impedes progress (43 Iowa, 145). 

The obstructions contemplated by this section are such hindrances 
or impediments as impede passage upon the road or render the high¬ 
way unsafe (43 Iowa, 142); but the supervisor is not permitted to 
remove such obstruction, if a fence or building, without notice, 
though the person making the same may he liable on an indictment 
(34 Iowa, 478). 

The supervisor may be enjoined from building a bridge so close to 
the margin of the highway as to do injury to the adjoining owner, 
when there is no other reason therefor than the saving of expense 
(61 Iowa, 471); he may also be restrained on threatenings of illegal 
action to open a highway by cutting trees, removing fences, changing 
water courses, &c. (67 Iowa, 207). 

Guide Boards Required 

Section 994. The supervisor shall keep the highways in as good condition 
as the funds at his disposal will permit, and shall place guide-boards at cross¬ 
roads and at the forks of the highways in his district; said boards to be made out 
of good timber, the same to be well painted and lettered, and placed upon good 
substantial hard-wood posts, to be set four feet in and to be at least eight feet 
above ground. 








44 


Extermination of Canada Thistles. 

Sec. 995. The supervisor of highways, when notified in writing that any 
Canada Thistles (Cnicus Lanceolcitus) are growing upon any vacant or non-resident 
lands or lots within his district, the owner, agent or lessee of which is unknown, 
shall cause the same to be destroyed, and make return in writing to the board of 
supervisors of his county, with a bill for his expenses or charges therefor, which 
shall be audited and allowed by said board and paid from the county fund: and 
the amount so paid shall be entered up and levied against the lands or lots on 
which said thistles have been destroyed, and collected by the county treasurer the 
same as other taxes and returned to the county fund, (As amended by chapter 45, 
Laivs of 1992.) 

Sec. 4062. If any person or corporation, after having been notified in writing 
of the presence of Canada thistles, or Cnicus Lanceolatus , on any lands owned or 
occupied by such person or corporation; or if any highway supervisor, after having 
been notified in writing of the presence of any such thistles on the highway under 
his jurisdiction, shall permit such thistles or any part thereof to blossom or mature, 
such person, corporation, or highway supervisor, shall be deemed guilty of a mis¬ 
demeanor and be punished accordingly. (As amended by Chap. 45, Laws of 1892.) 

Extei’mination of Russian Thistles. 

By Chapter 91, Laws of 1894, as amended by Chapter 78, Laws of 
1896, it is provided as follows: 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any land owner or occupant of lands or 
lots, or corporation or association of persons, owning, occupying or controlling 
land as right-of-way, depot grounds, or for any other purpose, or any public officer 
in charge of any street or highway, to allow to grow to maturity thereon the 
Russian thistle or saltwort, salsoli kali variety tragus. 

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of every person or corporation so owning, occupy¬ 
ing or controlling lands, lots or other real property, or any highway supervisor or 
other public officer having charge of any street or highway, to cut and burn or 
otherwise entirely destroy any Russian thistles growing on said premises, right- 
of-way, highway or street, between the 25th day of July and the 10th day of 
August of each year, and any person, corporation or public officer neglecting to 
destroy all such Russian thistles between said dates, after notice of their presence 
in writing, to said person or corporation or officer, or to an agent of any said 
person or corporation, by any person, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor 
and be punished accordingly. 

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of all persons knowing of the presence of Russian 
thistles upon any premises, lands, lots, streets, highways, or elsewhere, in any 
township at any time after the 10th day of August and before the 15th day of 
August to give notice in writing to the owner, occupant, persons or corporation 
in possession or control thereof, and if not destroyed by such owner, occupant, or 
persons in possession by the 20th day of August, to give notice in writing immedi¬ 
ately after the 20th day of August, of that year to any member of the board of 
township trustees in which said thistles are growing; or if within a city or incor- 


44a 


porated town then to give notice in writing to the mayor, recorder, or clerk 
thereof; who shall, on or before the oth day of September, cause the same to be 
cut, burned, or otherwise totally destroyed. 

The reasonable costs of destroying said thistles and of serving said notices afore¬ 
said shall be paid out of the general county fund on the certificate of the board 
of township trustees or city or town council of the amount of the same, which 
certificate shall describe the lands or lets upon which said thistles were destroyed 
and the amount of costs for destroying the same on each tract, together with the 
costs of serving said notices thereon, and upon the filing of the certificate in the 
auditor’s office the county board of supervisors shall cause the amount so paid to 
be levied as a special tax against the premises cn which said thistles have been 
destroyed, and against the persons or corporation owning said premises, and the 
county treasurer shall collect the same as any other tax, and return it to the 
county fund. The costs for serving said notices on said officers shall be the same 
as original notices in justice’s court, but only one such charge for serving said 
notices shall be taxed against each owner of said land. 

Sec. 4. A bulletin shall be prepared by the professor of agriculture of the 
State Agricultural College, briefly describing by words and cuts the Russian 
thistle with the best known means of staying its progress and effecting its exter¬ 
mination. Said bulletin shall be printed by the state printer at public expense 
from time to time, in such numbers as the secretary of state and said professor 
of agriculture may deem necessary to supply the demand. A surn of money suffi¬ 
cient to pay for the cost of printing and making of suitable plates for illustrating 
said bulletin, is hereby appropriated from any funds in the state treasury not 
otherwise previously appropriated. 

Sec. 5. The secretary of state shall furnish to the agricultural college such a 
number of said bulletins as it may desire to circulate, and also to county auditors 
on their requisition in such numbers as may be necessary to supply all township 
and town or city officers with copies and a sufficient number to distribute to all 
farmers desiring the same. 

Supervisors to Make Settlement. 

Section 996. The supervisors are required to meet the township trustees at 
the meeting on the first Monday in November in each year, at which time there 
shall be a settlement of the accounts of such supervisors connected with the high¬ 
way fund, for putting up guide-boards and for any other services; and after pay¬ 
ment of the supervisors, the trustees shall order such distribution of the funds in 
the hands of the township clerk as they may deem expedient for highway pur¬ 
poses, and the clerk shall pay the same out as ordered by the trustees. (As 
amended by Chap. 43, Laws of j89S.) 

The fund here referred to is the balance of the general fund, and 
does not include the money paid over by the county treasurer as taxes 
collected by him, excepting such as may properly come under the 
head of the general fund (45 Iowa, 519). 


44b 


The clerk is the proper party to bring suit to recover the money 
(62 Iowa, 468). 

Section 997. Should there be no money in the treasury on final settlement 
of the supervisors with the trustees, said trustees shall order the township clerk 
to issue orders for the amount due the supervisors. The orders so issued shall be 
numbered with the number of the district to which they belong-, and shall be 
received the same as money in payment of highway tax in the district to which 
they are issued. v 

The trustees may be compelled to levy a tax to meet any deficiency 
of the general fund. The orders may be used in payment of highway 
taxes, but the supervisor cannot be compelled to receive payment in that 
way (52 Iowa, 81). As to the application of money (76 Iowa, 397). 


Penalty for Neglect to Perform Duties. 

Section 998. Any supervisor failing or neglecting to perform the duties 
required by this chapter, shall forfeit and pay for the use of the highway fund of 
his district the sum of ten dollars; tl township clerk shall, in case of such fail¬ 
ure or neglect, commence suit in his name for the collection of the same, before 
any justice of the peace within the proper township. 

Fence May be Built on Highway When Hedge is to be 
Planted on the Dine of the Same. 

Sec. 999. Where any owner or occupant of land adjoining or abutting upon 
any highway may desire to plant a hedge upon the line of the same, he shall be 
allowed to build his fence upon such highway; but he shall not build the fence 
more than five feet within the outer line of said highway, and said fence may be 
built on both sides of all highways of fifty feet or more in width at the same time. 
Such owner or occupant shall not be allowed to occupy such highway as aforesaid 
for more than ten years, and not more than six months before such hedge shall 
be planted, and at the expiration of such time he shall remove such fence upon 
the order of the supervisor of the district where such highway is situated. 

Hedges to be Trimmed. 

Chapter 48, Laws of 1896, relative to trimming Osage Orange, 
Willow, and all other hedge fences, provides as follows: 

(NOTE.—This chapter is almost identical ivith chapter 88, Laws of 1894, and 
was probably intended as a substitute therefor, but contains no repealing clause, 
nor anything to show that fact.) 

Section 1. The owner of any osage orange, willow, or any other hedge fence, 
unless the same shall be used as a wind-break for the orchards or stock, or shall 


45 


be maintained as an ornamental fence, shall keep the same trimmed along the 
public highways, by trimming or cutting back to within five feet of the ground 
at least once in every two years, and shall burn or remove the brush so cut from 
the highway. 

Sec. 2. And it shall be the duty of the road supervisor, in case of a failure to 
comply with section 1 of this act, to serve written notice on such owner, then, if 
such owner refuse or neglect to comply with section 1 hereof for a period of sixty 
days after service of such notice, the road supervisor shall cause such work to be 
done, and it shall be paid for out of the highway fund. 

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the road supervisor to notify the owner of the 
land of the expense of doing the work as provided in section 2. 

Sec. 4. The township clerk, when certifying lists of land for transmission to 
the county auditor, upon which the highway tax has not been paid, as provided 
in section 975 of the Code of 1873, shall include in such lists a description of all 
lands, and the names of the owners, along which any work has been done by the 
road supervisor in accordance with the provisions of this act, together with the 
amount paid out of the highway fund therefor; and the auditor shall enter the 
amount against the land, and the owner thereof, unless the same has been previ¬ 
ously paid, and deliver the same to the co lty treasurer; and which amount shall 
be collected by the treasurer in the same manner that county taxes are collected. 

Sec. 5 Where the township system is adopted under chapter 200 of the acts of 
the Twentieth General Assembly of the state of Iowa, it shall be the duty of the 
township trustees to enforce the provisions of this act. 

A highway becomes a public highway whether established by the 
original location or by re-location, and the erection of a fence across 
it would amount to an obstruction; and when a person is indicted for 
obstructing a public highway the only questions to be determined are: 
“Is Was it a public highway as recognized by law?” u 2. Was it 
obstructed by the defendant?” (1 Green., 439) and malice is not a 
necessary element of the offense of obstructing a highway, the inten¬ 
tion to so obstruct only being necessary to precede the act (40 Iowa, 
374). If the highway laid out cannot be used on account of natural 
obstructions, and another line is established by prescription or long 
usage in order to evade such natural obstructions, the owner of the 
adjacent land cannot fence up such traveled highway without being 
liable (40 Iowa, 595). 

In removing fences and other obstacles from the highway, the 
supervisor must not exceed his authority given by the statute, and 
must then perform his duty in respect thereto in an ordinarily prudent 
and careful manner; and if when he so acts he makes slight varia¬ 
tions from, or infringements over the line upon the lands of adjacent 


46 


proprietors, it seems lie will not be liable for trespass (31 Iowa, 138), 
and if he fails to remove fences or other obstructions as required by 
law, he may be compelled by an action of mandamus (36 Iowa, 93). 

If a fence along a highway is so situated as to endanger public 
travel, although it does not extend across the track, or to require 
removal in order to render the road safe for public use, it is a direct 
obstruction of the highway and should be removed (39 Iowa, 607). 

The statute provides that if any person maliciously injure, remove, 
or destroy any bridge, road, or plank road, or place, or cause to be 
placed, any obstruction on such bridge, highway or road, or wilfully 
obstruct or injure any public road or highway, he shall be punished 
by imprisonment in the penitentiary not more than five years, or by 
fine not exceeding five hundred dollars and imprisonment in the 
county jail not exceeding one year (code of 1873, Sec. 3979); and a 
prosecution may be supported for obstructing a highway established 
by use or prescription, which is of less width than a county or state 
road established in the manner pointed out by the statute (28 Iowa, 
514); but a fence projecting into ti ' ' hway which does not obstruct 
public travel is not such an obstru as would justify a criminal 
prosecution, and the highway supervisor shall not cause it to be 
removed without giving the owner reasonable notice (40 Iowa, 684). 

While highway supervisors are in duty bound to keep the highways 
in as good condition as the funds at their disposal will permit (code 
of 1873, section 994), and are liable for all damages resulting from 
the unsafe or impassable condition of the highways or bridges, when 
notified of such defect (code of 1873, section 990), they are not 
liable for damages resulting from defects, the repairs of which would 
involve extraordinary expenditures (13 Iowa, 181). However, it is 
the duty of supervisors to make small bridges, and repair small defects 
in large bridges, and for a failure or neglect to do so they are liable 
(13 Iowa, 181). 

It is the duty of the county in which a bridge is situated to make 
all repairs requiring an extraordinary expenditure of money (13 Iowa, 
181); such as would properly come under the designation of county 
bridges, and such as the county would be bound to build or repair, or 
over which its officers had exercised jurisdiction (26 Iowa, 265); hence 
in application of the rule it was held of a bridge some twelve or four¬ 
teen feet wide, across a ditch or small ravine two or three feet wide, 
and two feet in depth, in which structure there was a hole which 
caused an injury to the plaintiff while traveling on the public high¬ 
way of which such bridge was a part, that the county was not liable; 


47 


but a county has been held liable for the unsafe condition of bridges 
that have been built by county authorities (26 Iowa, 265). 

In order for a person to maintain an action on account of an injury 
occasioned by a defect in a highway, he must show that the highway 
was unsafe, and that he was in the exercise of ordinary prudence and 
care in traveling thereon, and an action may be maintained although 
the primary cause of the injury was an accident, as the breaking of 
the carriage or running away of the team, if the party was not in 
fault (25 Iowa, 108). 

Section 1225 of the Code of Iowa, relating to drains across high¬ 
ways has been repealed, and by act of the Twenty-first General As¬ 
sembly, chapter 55, the following is substituted: 

Section 1 . When any water course or natural drain crosses any public high¬ 
way in the state of Iowa, and the adjoining or abutting land owner wishes to cross 
said highway with an underground tile drain for an outlet, or to connect with 
another underground tile drain, they shall notify the road supervisor having super¬ 
vision over the public highway to be Crossed, in writing, specify the depth of 
drain and size of tile to be used i' £ng said highway, and give the road super¬ 

visor twenty days’ time to const. ... id underground tile drain. 

Sec. 2. When the road supervisor receives said written notice, he shall order 
said underground tile drain constructed across said highway, and pay for the tile 
and construction of the same out of any money or fund in his command. 

Sec. 3. If the supervisor fails to construct said underground tile drain within 
the twenty days’ time, then the abutting or adjoining land owner may go upon 
the highway and construct said underground tile drain across said highway, and 
he shall receive pay for constructing the same, including tile used in crossing said 
highway, out of any money or fund belonging to said road district, provided he 
shall leave the highway in as good condition as it was before the drain was con¬ 
structed. 

And by chapter 96, Twenty-second General Assembly (1888), it is 
provided: Any person shall have the right to go upon any public 
highway to construct an outlet to a drain, provided he shall leave the 
highway in as good condition as it was before the drain was con¬ 
structed, to be determined by the supervisor of highways in the dis¬ 
trict where the work was done. 

XXV. CONSTRUCTION OF HIGHWAYS LEADING INTO 
CITIES AND TOWNS. 

In reference to the construction and repair of highways leading 
into cities and incorporated towns, the statute provides, that they may 
do so by appropriating therefor a portion of the highway tax belong¬ 
ing to said city or incorporated town, not exceeding fifty per cent, 
thereof annually, as hereinafter provided. When a petition shall be 


4 


48 


presented to the council or trustees, signed by one-third of the resi¬ 
dent tax-payers of said city or town, asking that the question of aiding 
in the construction or repair of any highway leading thereto be 
submitted to the voters thereof, the council or trustees shall imme¬ 
diately give notice of a special election by posting notices in five 
public places in said town at least ten days before said election, which 
notice shall specify the time and place of holding said election, the 
particular highway proposed to be aided, the proportion of the high¬ 
way tax then levied and not expended, or next thereafter to be levied 
to be appropriated, at which election the question of “appropriation” 
or “no appropriation” shall be submitted, and if a majority of the 
votes polled be for appropriation, then the council or trustees may aid 
in the construction and repair of said highway to the extent of said 
appropriation, in the same manner as they otherwise would if said 
highway was within the corporation limits of said city or town; but 
no. part of such highway tax shall be expended more than two miles 
from the limits of such city or town; provided, that in incorporated 
towns and cities of the second class, whether organized under a special 
charter or under the general incorporation law, with a population 
under ten thousand inhabitants, whenever one-third of the resident 
tax-payers of such incorporated town or city, shall petition the trus¬ 
tees or council of such incorporated town or city, asking that a por¬ 
tion of the highway tax of such incorporated town or city may be 
used to aid in the construction or repair of highways outside and 
within three miles of the limits of such incorporated town or city, 
such trustees or council may, upon the presentation of such petition, 
order a part of the highway tax of such incorporated town or city, 
not exceeding twenty-five per cent, thereof, to be used and expended 
to aid in the construction or repair of highways outside and within the 
three miles of the limits of such incorporated town or city (code of 
1872, section 488, as amended by chapter 52, Laws of 1880). 

XXYI. MEETING ON HIGHWAYS. 

Section 1000. Persons meeting each other on public highway shall give one- 
half of the same by turning to the right. All persons failing to observe the pro¬ 
visions of this section shall be liable to pay all damages resulting therefrom, 
together with a fine not exceeding five dollars, which fine shall be appropriated to 
repairing the highways in the district where the violation occurred; but no prose¬ 
cution shall be instituted except on complaint of the person wronged. 


BRIDGES AND FERRIES. 


XXVII. BRIDGES. 

The board of supervisors have power and it is their duty to' provide' 
for the erection of all bridges which may be necessary, and which the' 
public convenience may require, within their respective counties, and 
to keep the same in repair; but it shall not be competent for said 
board to order the erection of a bridge where the probable cost willl 
exceed five thousand dollars, until a proposition therefor shall have 
been first submitted to the legal voters of the county, and voted for by 
a majority of all voting for and against such proposition at a general? 
or special election (25 Iowa, 238, as amended by chapter 46, Laws of 
1880), notice of the same being given for thirty days previously in a’ 
newspaper, if one be published in the county, and if none be published 
therein, then by written notice posted in a public place in each town¬ 
ship in the county; 'provided , that the board of supervisors of any 
county having a population of more than ten thousand, may appro¬ 
priate for the construction of any one bridge, which is or may here¬ 
after become a county charge within the limits of such county, or 
may appropriate toward the construction of any bridge across any 
unnavigable river, which is the dividing line between any two coun¬ 
ties in this state, and between one county of this state and another 
state, such sum as may be necessary, not exceeding the sum of forty 
dollars a lineal foot for superstructure; but in no case shall they 
appropriate for said purpose, including superstructure and approaches*, 
a sum exceeding fifteen thousand dollars; provided , however, that in 
any county having a population exceeding fifteen thousand, saidl 
board may appropriate as aforesaid, not to exceed twenty-five thous¬ 
and dollars; provided , that no county shall expend a sum exceeding 
fifteen thousand dollars in aid of the construction of a bridge acrosss 
a stream which is the dividing line between two counties (code of 
1873, section 303, as amended by Laws of 1876, chapter 80). 

Section 1001. Bridges erected or maintained by the public, constitute parts) 
of the highway, and must not be less than sixteen feet in width.. 



50 


Bridges are parts of the highway (16 Iowa, 339), and they are 
under the general control of the supervisors, though they cannot be 
compelled to build them where they conclude the public interests do 
not demand them (43 Iowa, 193), and the bridge must not of neces¬ 
sity be of the statutory width. A less width will not defeat a recovery 
on the contract by the party building it (48 Iowa, 681). 

Bridges should be wide enough to permit the passage of all vehicles 
and machinery in use, and which are drawn on the highway (61 
Iowa, 471). 

Section 1002. Any person riding or driving faster than a walk across any 
bridge maintained at the public charge, shall be subject to pay the following 
penalties: When the bridge is twenty-five feet in length, and does not exceed 
one hundred, the sum of one dollar for each offense; when it is over one hundred, 
and does not exceed two hundred feet in length, the sum of three dollars for each 
offense; where it is over two hundred, and does not exceed three hundred feet in 
length, the sum of five dollars for each offense; and the further additional sum of 
one dollar for each offense for every hundred feet in length in excess of three 
hundred, to be recovered by civil action in the name and for the county in which 
the bridge is situated. If the bridge is situated in more than one county the 
action is maintainable in or by either. 

In cities and incorporated towns the council shall have the care, 
supervision and control of the public highways and bridges within the 
city, and shall cause the same to be kept in repair; and- all public 
bridges exceeding forty feet in length over any stream crossing a 
state or county highway, shall be constructed and kept in repair by 
the county; provided , that the city council may appropriate a sum 
not exceeding ten dollars per lineal foot to aid in the construction of 
any county bridge within the limits of such city, or may appropriate 
a like sum to aid in the construction of any bridge contiguous to said 
city or a highway leading to the same, or any bridge across any 
unnavigable river which divides the county in which said city is 
located from another state (code of 1873, section 527; Laws of 1874, 
chapter 5). 

The board of supervisors is invested with power to erect and repair 
necessary bridges, and may levy a tax therefor not exceeding three 
mills on the dollar (19 Iowa, 87; 21 Iowa, 119); they also have power 
to aid in the construction of free bridges for public highways, either 
within or without incorporated cities and towns; and section ten 
hundred and ninety-seven of the revision of 1860 (code of 1873, 
section 527) does not take away the right of counties to build bridges 
in incorporated cities and towns on public highways (21 Iowa, 144). 


51 


Counties are not liable for injuries caused by defective bridges 
within the corporate limits of cities of the second class (21 Iowa, 409); 
but for the non-repair of county bridges they are liable for injuries 
therefrom (13 Iowa, 181; 26 Iowa, 264, 395; 32 Iowa, 328; 40 Iowa, 
217; 40 Iowa, 394; 43 Iowa, 456; 44 Iowa, 141); but the liability of 
counties for injuries caused by a failure to construct bridges or keep 
them in repair, extends to the larger class of bridges which require an 
extraordinary expenditure of money and are properly designated as 
county bridges (26 Iowa, 264; 40 Iowa, 395, 294). 

The fact that a part of the cost of building a county bridge was 
paid by voluntary contributions, and the money expended under the 
direction of others than agents of'the county, will not take away the 
liability to keep said bridge in repair (40 Iowa, 394). 

Whether the approaches to a bridge constitute a part of the bridge 
proper or not, is a question of fact to be determined by the jury (40 
Iowa, 394; 46 Iowa, 177). 

Whenever a county line road intersects a stream of sufficient width 
to require a county bridge, and the point of intersection does not 
afford a suitable site for the construction of such bridge, and there is 
a good site for the erection of a bridge wholly within one or the 
other of said counties, at a reasonable distance from the county line, 
the board of supervisors of the respective counties to be benefited by 
said bridge may make the necessary appropriations for the construc¬ 
tion and maintenance of such bridge, the same as they might do if 
said bridge was located on county line (Laws of 1878, chapter 40) 

By Session Laws of 1880, Eighteenth General Assembly, chapter 
45, in counties containing a city of the first class in which are bridges 
more than three hundred feet in length, and for the cost of which 
such city is indebted in an amount not less than one hundred thous¬ 
and dollars, the board of supervisors is required annually to set apart all 
the bridge tax collected during the year on taxable property in such city 
and apply the same to the cancellation of said bridge debt, and if any 
money or tolls remain in excess of that required for the purpose above 
named, such excess may be used in repairing other city bridges need¬ 
ing repairs. And by Nineteenth General Assembly, chapter 63 (Ses¬ 
sion Laws, 1882), provision is made to enable any township, incor¬ 
porated town or city, to aid in the construction of county bridges 
when the supervisors estimated cost of the same is not less than 
$10,000. Whenever a petition shall be presented to the council or 
trustees of an incorporated town or city, or the trustees of a township, 


52 


signed by a majority of tbe resident tax-payers of such city, town 
or township, asking that the question of aiding the construction 
of a county bridge, to be in whole or in part within such city, town or 
township, or in the township in which such city or town is, be submitted 
to the voters thereof, the trustees or council shall give at least ten days’ 
notice of a special election, by posting in five places in such city, town 
or township, the time and place thereof, the location of the proposed 
bridge, and the rate and terms of the tax to be levied. The aggre¬ 
gate tax levied for the purpose cannot exceed five per centum of 
assessed value of the property to be taxed for the purpose, nor shall 
it exceed one-half of the estimated cost of the bridge. The taxes thus 
proposed shall be collected at the time or times specified in the order, 
by the county treasurer, in the same manner and subject to the same 
penalties for non-payment after maturity, as other taxes. The money 
thus provided shall be paid out on the order of the board of super¬ 
visors, by the county treasurer. 

ON THE USE OE SURPLUS BRIDGE AND KOAD FUNDS. 

Chapter 88 Laws of 1880, provides that upon petition of one-third of the resi¬ 
dent freeholders of a township in any county free from debt, and in which is a 
bridge fund, the board of supervisors of the county may, after providing for nec¬ 
essary bridge repairs, apply the surplus to the improvement of highways, upon 
contracts let to the lowest responsible bidder, granted after at least fourteen days’ 
notice, in some newspaper published in the county, of the proposal. But no 
larger indebtedness shall be incurred than can be paid with such surplus. 

Chapter 42, Laws of 1896, provides that the board of supervisors of any county 
that now has a surplus in its county road fund, not needed for the purpose for 
which levied, may transfer so much of such surplus as they deem best to the 
county fund or county bridge fund. This applies only to money collected prior 
to January 1, 1896, and to such counties as have levied and collected said road tax 
in the incorparated towns and cities as well as the territory outside of said cities. 

ON BUYING BRIDGES OVER STREAMS DIVIDING COUNTIES. 

By chapter 13, Acts of the Twentieth General Assembly (Session 
Laws of 1884), the boards of supervisors of adjoining counties, eacb 
of which has a population exceeding 10,000 inhabitants, according to 
the last census, are authorized to purchase any toll bridge erected 
across a stream dividing such counties, and maintain it at their joint 
expense as a free public bridge, provided the cost of the bridge shall 
not exceed $10,000. The contract between the parties shall be in 
writing, and signed by the chairman of the respective counties, and 
made part of their records; and if they cannot agree the cause may 
be submitted to the district court, which, upon a hearing of the case, 
may enter a decree in favor of the purchase, and determine the 
expense of the purchase and maintenance of such bridge to the several 
counties according to the relative advantage accruing to each. If 


53 


the decree is not appealed from, the supervisors shall at once proceed 
to complete the terms of its purchase and maintenance, and levy the 
necessary taxes for the purpose. Such counties are thereafter respon¬ 
sible for the safe condition of such bridge, as provided by law. 

By chapters 13 and 98, laws of 1886, as amended by chapter 19, laws of 1894, 
_ it is provided that when the inhabitants of any incorporated city in the state, 
containing over 5,000 inhabitants, are desirous of constructing or aiding in the 
construction of a highway bridge, or a combination bridge suitable for use both 
as a highway and for railway purposes, commencing or terminating in such city, 
across any navigable boundary river of the state, and shall vote a tax for the pur¬ 
pose not exceeding five per centum of the assessed value of property in such city, 
it shall then be the duty of the board of supervisors of the county, at the time of 
levying the ordinary taxes, to levy the tax thus voted. The law also provides the 
manner of its collection and its expenditure for the purposes indicated. 

XXVIII. TOLL BRIDGES. 

The board of supervisors have power to grant licenses for toll 
bridges across any water course or other obstacle which justifies the 
establishment of the same; which license may continue for a period 
not exceeding fifty years, and may stipulate that no other bridge shall 
be permitted to cross the same obstruction within not exceeding two 
miles from such bridge, and a period not exceeding ten years. 

They shall have power to fix the rates of toll, and regulate said 
bridges so as to allow persons to pass at any time. 

In granting licenses, preference must be given to the keeper of the 
previous bridge at the same point, or if it be a new bridge, preference 
shall be given to the owner of the land. 

The licenses must be entered upon the records of the board of 
supervisors, and shall contain the rates of toll allowed, and the rates 
must be conspicuously posted up at the extremity of the bridge, or 
some other conspicuous place near by; and a failure to do so will 
justify any person in refusing to pay the toll, and if habitually, the 
proprietor shall be liable to pay twenty-five dollars. 

The proprietor may establish rules for the regulation of teams so 
passing over said bridge; and any person who refuses to pay the reg¬ 
ular tolls established and posted up in accordance with the provisions 
of this charter, or who shall run through or pass around the toll 
gates with a view of avoiding the payment of just tolls and dues, 


54 


when the rates have been posted up as required by law, shall forfeit 
five dollars, together with costs of suit, for every such offense (code 
of 1873, section 1025). 

The provisions relating to ferries are alike applicable to toll bridges, 
unless otherwise specified. 

XXIX. TOLL-BRIDGES OVER STREAMS DIVIDING 
COUNTIES. 

Section 1. That the board of supervisors in adjoining counties each of which 
contains according to the last census, a population exceeding 10,000 inhabitants 
shall have authority to purchase and acquire any toll-bridge erected across any 
stream dividing said counties at the place said bridge is erected, and keep and 
maintain the same at joint expense as a free public bridge, provided that the total 
cost of such bridge shall not exceed the sum of $10,000. 

Sec. 2. If said boards of supervisors are able to agree upon the terms upon 
which they will purchase such bridge, and the proportion each will pay towards 
the purchase and maintenance of the same, such agreement shall be reduced to 
writing signed by the respective chairmen and recorded in the records of their pro¬ 
ceedings. But if they are unable to thus agree the county desiring to purchase said 
bridge may institute a special proceeding in the circuit [district] court of either of 
said counties, and said cause shall be conducted as an equitable cause, and the court 
shall determine whether there is any public necessity for said bridge, the relative 
benefit the same will be to the two counties, and based upon such benefit the propor¬ 
tion each county shall bear in the purchase and maintenance of said bridge, and 
shall enter decree accordingly, either cr both parties having the right of appeal 
to the supreme court. Upon entering of a decree in favor of the purchase of such 
bridge, it shall be the duty of said respective boards of supervisors at once to pro¬ 
ceed to complete the purchase upon such terms as are determined on and to forth¬ 
with levy the necessary taxes to make the payments, and said counties shall 
thereafter keep and maintain such bridge and be responsible for the safe condition 
thereof as provided by law (chapter 13, 20th General Assembly). 

XXX. FERRIES. 

The board of supervisors have power to grant licenses for ferries 
across any water course or other obstruction which justifies the same, 
which may continue for a period not exceeding ten years, and may 
stipulate that no other ferry shall be kept within one mile in either 
direction from said ferry, except it is made to appear to the board that 
the public good requires both ferries, after giving the holder of such 
license twenty days’ notice. 

They may prescribe rates of ferriage, and the hours of the day and 
night during which such ferry must be attended, both of which may 
be changed by the board at their discretion. 


55 


Preference must be given to the owner of a previous ferry, or if a 
new one, the owner of the land at the point where the ferry is to be 
kept, if the board think either of such to be a proper person, other¬ 
wise any other proper person may have such privilege. 

When the opposite shores of a stream are in different counties, 
either county may grant such license, and the county first exercising 
the jurisdiction retains the same during the term of such license. 
When but one side of the river is in this state, the board have con¬ 
trol over the shore in this state the same as if the river was wholly in 
this state. 

Every ferryman shall be required to give bond in a penalty not 
less' than one hundred dollars, for the faithful performance of his 
duties according to law and the rules prescribed; he must transport 
the public expresses of the United States and of this state, and the 
United States mail at any hour of the day or night. 

The law relating to toll bridges is alike applicable to ferries, unless 
the same is otherwise provided. 

Such franchises are subject to execution, together with all material, 
implements, rights of way and works of whatever kind ordinarily 
used in their exercise, and the purchaser may take immediate pos¬ 
session. 

Nothing contained in this chapter shall prevent the establishment 
of a free ferry by any person or corporation, nor from mill owners 
from crossing themselves or customers free of charge (code of 1873, 
title VII, chapter 3). 

A public ferryman is a common carrier and subject to the same 
duties and responsibilities (23 Iowa, 90), which make them liable 
under all circumstances, subject only to the contingencies arising 
from the act of God or public enemies (Greenleaf on Evidence vol. 
1, section 218; 18 Iowa, 555). He is bound to keep his boat in running 
order and proper condition, and is liable (without a reasonable cause) 
for damages resulting from his failure thereof, which may be both 
to a city for the violation of an ordinance, and to the individual sus¬ 
taining such damage (22 Iowa, 90; 27 Iowa, 460). 

A ferry license is not vacated by the death of the party to whom 
the license was issued, but passes to his representatives (27 Iowa, 460). 


56 


An appeal does not lie from the action of the board of supervisors 
in refusing to grant a ferry license, but the vacation of a license by 
the board of supervisors is a decision from which an appeal will lie 
(25 Iowa, 445). 

XXXI. OBSTRUCTING, DEFACING OR INJURING 
PUBLIC HIGHWAY, PUNISHED. 

If any person without authority or permission from the proper 
road supervisor, shall in any manner obstruct, deface, or injure any 
public road or highway by breaking up, or plowing, or digging within 
the boundary lines thereof, he shall, upon conviction, be punished by 
a fine of not less than five dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars, 
or by imprisonment in the county jail not more than thirty days, in 
the discretion of the court (chapter 17, Laws of 1874). Nor will it 
be a defense that such change has been an advantage to the highway 
(68 Iowa, 447 L 

XXXII. RUNNING STEAM ENGINE ON HIGHWAY. 

(Chapter 68, Laws op 1892. as Amended by Chapter 21, Laws of 1894.) 

Section 1. It shall be the duty of persons in charge of any steam engine 
being propelled upon the highways of this state wholly or in part by steam power, 
to stop said engine whenever it is one hundred yards distant from any person or 
persons going on said highway with horses or other animals until said horses or 
other animals shall have passed, and sooner in case said horses or other animals 
become frightened before arriving at said distance. The owner or driver of said 
engine shall also keep a competent man, not less than fifty or not more than one 
hundred yards in front of said engine to assist in controlling any horses or other 
animals being driven or used on said highway until said horses or other animals 
shall have passed by said engine, and it shall be the duty of said man to use all 
reasonable care and diligence to prevent the occurrence of any accidents which 
might result in case said horses or other animals become frightened at said steam 
engine. 

Sec. 2. It shall be unlawful for any person to drive, cause to be driven, or be 
engaged, concerned or employed in driving a steam engine over any bridge or 
culvert on any public highway in this state, without using four sound, strong 
planks, each to be not less than twelve feet long, one foot wide, and two inches 
thick; two of said planks to be kept continuously under the wheels of said engine 
while crossing said bridge or culvert. 

Sec. 3. It shall be unlawful for any person to blow the whistle of said engine 
on the public highway. 


56a 


Sec. 4. Any person who by himself, agent or employe shall violate any of the 
provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon convic¬ 
tion thereof shall for each offense be fined not less than ten dollars nor more than 
fifty dollars, to be recovered before any court of competent jurisdiction, and shall 
also be liable for all damages that may be sustained by persons or property by 
reason of his failing to comply with the provisions of this act. 

XXXIII. PROCURING BROKEN STONE FROM ANAMOSA 
PENITENTIARY, FOR IMPROVING AND MAC¬ 
ADAMIZING HIGHWAYS. 

By Chapter 20, Laws of 1894, it is provided as follows: 

Section 1 . After the passage of this act the warden of the penitentiary at 
Anamosa is required to have all stone which are not used for building purposes by 
the state, and all refuse stone at the state quarry broken up by the use of hammers 
into pieces not larger than two and one-half inches in diameter. Such broken 
stone is to be used for the improvement and macadamizing of highways and 
streets. The said warden is required to have this work done by convict labor 
except when employed in work upon public buildings or other important work. 

Sec. 2. No county shall be allowed more than one order of ten car loads until 
all other orders are filled. 

Sec. 3. If any county, township, road district or town or any city desires such 
stone for above named purposes, the road supervisors or any other officers having 
the supervision of highways or streets shall notify the county auditor and if he be 
satisfied that such stone are needed for the purpose above stated, he shall issue his 
requisition upon the said warden for such a quantity of stone as is wanted, but 
not to exceed ten car loads to any city, town or road district in any one month. 
Upon the receipt of the requisition for stone from any county auditor in this state, 
the said warden shall cause the stone to be loaded on the cars free of all charges, 
but the county, township, road district, city or town ordering such stone shall pay 
all such transportation expenses. All requisitions for such stone shall be filed in 
the office of said warden and he shall fill the same in rotation in the same order as 
they were received by him, and none of such stone shall be used or disposed of for 
any other purpose whatever except for the use of the state and such purposes as 
are named in this act. 


INDEX. 


Appeal Sec. Page 

from action of supervisors on claims for damages.959 to 962 19-20 

costs in, by whom payable... 963 20 

Apprais ers — 

appointment and duties of, on claims for damage.940 to 944 11-12 

Auditor , County — 

duties of, in establishing highway.note 921 5 

must appoint commissioner... 924 6 

fix certain dates.934, 935 8 

establish highway, or appoint appraisers.. .937, 938, 940 11 

notify appraisers, fixing time for meeting. 942 12 

furnish road plat-books to township clerks. 968 21 

furnish blanks for road tax-list to township clerks. 973 27 

duties of, respecting road tax lists. 975 28 

Board of Supervisors — 

has general supervision of roads, except in cities. 920 5 

must act in establishment of highway, when.939, 946 11-12 

must hear and determine objections to survey of roads. 966 21 

duties of, in bridging county line streams (20 G. A., eh. 13). 52-54 

may grant license for ferries. 54 

toll bridges. 53 

Bonds — 

petitioner for road must give. 923 6 

must be given in appeal cases. 960 19 

by township clerk. 97.0 25 

highway supervisor. 978 29 

ferryman.note 55 

Bridges — 

are part of highway, and must be sixteen feet wide....note 920, 1001 5, 49 

building of may be enjoined, when.note 921 5 

commissioners’ report must show the number and cost. 934 8 

how avoided, on highways along streams. 15 

notice to supervisor to repair. 990 41 

duty of board of supervisors to erect. 49 

penalty for fast driving upon. 1002 50 

erection and repair of, in cities and towns.notes 50-51 

defective, liability for damages.note 51 

over streams dividing counties. 52-3-4 

toll, how established, and rules governing. 53 

Canada Thistles—(See Russian Thistles). 

extermination of. 995 44 




































Cattle Guards — Sec Page 

must be made by railway company.,...,. . 1288 18 

Cattle Ways — 

across highways, where and how made . notes 23 

Cities — 

streets and alleys of, under control of council ... note 953 14-50 

taxation for highways in (ch. 158, Laws 1882) . 26 

Commissioner — 

duties of in establishment of highway. 925 to 935 6-7-8 

Compensation — 

for labor on highway, to be fixed by trustees. 969 25 

of supervisors, and how paid. 986 36 

Condemnation — 

proceedings in relation to... 1245 to 1248 17 

of private property for the right of way... 1269 18 

County Hoad and State Hoad — 

no distinction between names of. 956 15 

County Treasurer — 

when to pay highway tax to clerk. 976 28 

Damages — 

when objections and claim for must be filed . 934 8 

assessment of . 936 8 

action on claims for . 940 to 945 11-12 

appeal may be taken on action for. 959, 860 19 

action on appeal for .961, 962, 963 20 

Day’s Work — 

what constitutes, on highway in consolidated district. 37 

in other districts . 984 31-2 

Drains and Ditches — 

on and along highways, may be constructed. 15 

underground tile drain across highway (21 G. A., ch. 55) .. 47 

outlet to drain on or across highway (22 G. A., ch. 96) . . 47 

Fences — 

removal of, on new road . 950 14 

erection of, to protect hedges . 999 44b 

Ferries — 

license for, and regulations regarding.. 54-5 

Field Notes — 

of survey, must be made and filed with commissioner’s report....932-3 8 

must be recorded, and certified to township clerk . 949 13 

if lost, re-survey may be ordered..... . . . 964 20 

of re-survey, must be filed, and notice given thereof . 965 21 





























Firemen — Sec . PaRe 

when exempt from highway poll tax.1560, 1561, 1562 34 

Funds — 

surplus in bridge fund may be transferred, when (18G. A., ch. 88) 52 

road fund may be transferred, when (26 G. A., ch. 42) 52 

Guide Boards — 

must be erected by supervisor... 994 43 

expenses of erecting, how paid. 993 44a 

Hedges—(See “Fences”). 

must be trimmed, duties of supervisor relating to (26 G. A. ch. 48) 44b 

Highway Districts — 

may be consolidated into one (20 G. A. ch. 200 §4; 25 G. A. ch. 22) , 36 

regulations concerning, when consolidated (Ibid, Secs. 4 to 15). 36 

Highway Flat Book — 

must be made by county auditor. 967 21 

Highways — 

streets of towns or-villages not incorporated are a part of. 952 14 

establishment of by petition.. 922 5 

through state lands..... 14 

by consent, how.957-8 15 

leading to mines and quarries. 16 

by dedication and prescription. 22 

meeting on. 1000 48 

running steam engine on. 56 

construction of, leading into cities and towns. 47 

duties of commissioner appointed to view and survey.925 to 935 6-7-8 

auditor in establishment of (See "Auditor"). 

final action in establishment of.946 to 951 12-14 

change in survey of, may be made, on objections filed. 966 21 

across or along county lines. 955 15 

grade of, in cities. 953 • 14 

obstruction in, must be removed by supervisor. 933 43 

obstruction or injury of, criminal. 45-56 

firemen and militia exempt from labor on. 34 

procuring broken stone for improvement of. 56a 

Highway Tax — 

when levied, amount, and how apportioned.969, 970 25 

treasurer must pay to clerk, when. 976 28 

how expended.981,' 982 31 

board of supervisors shall levy, for county road fund. 35 

Meeting on Hoad — 

persons meeting on highway turn to right. 1000 48 

Militia >— 

when exempt from highway poll tax (18 G. A., ch. 74). 34 

Mines and Quarries — 

roads to, establishment of. 16 































Objections - 9ec Pw 

to highway, filed with auditor. 934 8 

to establishment of highway, must be in writing. 941 12 

Ob s truction — 

of highways, criminal. 45-6-7 

plowing or digging in highway, criminal. 56 

“One District” Plan — 

districts in township may be consolidated into one.. 36 

j Petition — 

to establish, alter or vacate highway. 922 5 

Doll Tax ( Highway )— 

who liable for (see “Firemen” and “Militia”).983. 984 31 

penalty for non-payment of. 985 33 

how collected if delinquent. 988 41 

Railways — 

crossing highways, regulations as to constructing crossing, 1282-1267 18 

shall construct crossings, cattle-guards, etc. 1288 18 

Russian Thistles—(See Canada Thistles). 

extermination of. 44 

Sidewalks— 

on highways, may be constructed (20 G. A., ch. 147). 24 

Steam Engine — 

running of, on highway or over bridge. 56 

Street Railways — 

on highway, may be constructed beyond city limits. 24 

Supervisors ( Highway )— 

election, qualification and duties of.977, 978 29 

post notices of tax in district. 980 31 

duties regarding taxes collected.981, 982 31 

duties in regard to working roads. 983, 984 31 

may sue delinquents, when. 985 33 

compensation of. 986 36 

reports of, when to be made, and what to contain. 987 38-40 

regulations as to cutting trees and turning drainage. 989 41 

must repair unsafe bridges, penalty for neglect. 990 41 

may call out able-bodied men to make extraordinary repairs 991, 992 42 

must remove obstruction in highway, when, how.,. 993 43 

erect guide-boards... 991 43 

exterminate Canada thistles. 995 44 

Russian thistles (25 G. A. ch. 91; 26 G. A. ch 78) 44 

must meet trustees and make settlement, when. 996 44a 

penalty for neglecting duties. 998 44b 

lability of, in certain cases.notes 29-46 

shall trim hedges when owner neglects or refuses (26 G. A. ch. 48) 45 































Taxes ( Highway ) — sec. Page 

amount of levy. 969 25 

posting list of taxpayers. 980 31 

taxes, how expended.981, 982 31 

poll tax, failure to pay, penalty. 985 33 

, tax unpaid, how collected. 988 41 

cities voting tax to construct bridge over river (21 G. A. ch. 13-98) 53 

Tax Lists — 

made by township clerk.973, 974 27 

to deliver to supervisors of road. 974 27 

Timber — 

on land taken for highway belongs to former owner.note 12 

Township Clerk — 

must direct supervisor to open new road. 949 13 

to give bond, and have custody of implements. 970 25 

may sue supervisor, when.. 26 

duties of, in relation to highways. 972 26 

must make highway tax lists.973, 974 27 

delinquent list and transmit to auditor. 975 28 

must approve supervisor’s bond... 978 29-30 

shall appoint supervisor to fill vacancy...,. 978 29 

notify supervisors of election or appointment... 979 30 

Township Trustees — 

duties in reference to highways, and times of meeting. 969 25 

shall apportion tax for various purposes. 970 25 

direct expenditure of general township fund. 971 26 

must settle with supervisors, and order distribution of funds.... 996 44a 

authorize orders to issue for balance due supervisors. 997 44b 

Vacancy — 

in office of supervisor, filled by township clerk. 978 29 

Work on Highways — 

duties of trustees in regard to. 969 25 

by whom required, and when. 983 31 

duty of supervisor regarding. 984 31-2 

hours constituting a day’s labor in ordinary district. 984 32 

in consolidated district. 37 

firemen and militia exempt from, when. 34 

poor persons may be required to (1361; 18 G. A., ch. 133). 34 

convicted criminals may be required to. 4737 35 

men may be called out to, in emergent cases. 991 42 

penalty for failure to appear and. 992 42 

procuring broken stone for... 56a 



































































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